The Islamic State and Iran are on the same team The battle ...€¦ · China Is Steering the World...

JULY 2016 | THETRUMPET.COM

The Islamic State and Iran are on the same team The battle for the Mediterranean Falling in love with socialism Misspent military dollars Cross-train your brain

China’s Conquest of the Sea

Why the world should be alarmed

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s weekly television programtheTrumpet.com/keyofdavid

Trumpet executive editor Stephen Flurry’s television programtheTrumpet.com/trumpet_daily

News and analysis updated dailytheTrumpet.com

A weekly digest of important news theTrumpet.com/trumpetweekly

J U L Y 2 0 1 6 | V O L . 2 7 , N O . 6 | C I R C . 2 8 1 , 1 9 0

FEATURES1 F R O M T H E E D I T O R

China Is Steering the World Toward War

2 The Great Mart of Nations

5 Cross-train Your Brain

6 The Islamic State and Iran: On the Same TeamThe West considers Iran an ally in the war on terror. This mistake will prove fatal.

9 Falling in Love With Socialism1 0 Capitalist or Communist? ‘Pick What Works’

1 3 Is God a Socialist?

1 4 Not Much Bang for the Buck1 7 $6 Billion for Faulty Submarines3 2 U.S. Marine Corps Not Combat Ready

1 8 I N F O G R A P H I CChina’s Choke Hold

2 0 Mediterranean Battle Escalating Into World War III!Echoes of Germany’s WWII vision for Africa

2 4 Alexander the Great Was Prophesied in the Bible—and He Knew It!

DEPARTMENTS2 8 W O R L D W A T C H

3 1 S O C I E T Y W A T C H

3 3 P R I N C I P L E S O F L I V I N GThe Secret to Successful Aging

3 4 D I S C U S S I O N B O A R D

3 5 C O M M E N T A R YThis Election Disaster Is Not America’s ‘Best Hope’

3 6 T H E K E Y O F D A V I D T E L E V I S I O N L O G

DREDGING UP TROUBLE Chinese dredging boats create an artificial island

on Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands chain.(csis asia maritime transparency initiative/digitalglobe)

C O V E R China is building up islands in the South China Sea and staking its claim.

(gary dorning/trumpet)

JULY 2016 1

gerald flurry

FROM THE EDITOR

T ensions are rising between China and America.Ever since Xi Jinping took over as general secretary

of the Communist Party of China, his administration has been militarizing the South China Sea and working to push the United States out of East Asia. In two island chains, the Paracels and the Spratlys, China is building a series of man-made islands, 800 miles from China’s shore. These

islands are being installed with anti-aircraft batteries and fighter jets are stationed on them.

The Spratly Isla nds a re cla imed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. China is ignoring these nations’ territorial claims. China is being aggressive and provocative.

T h e s e m i l it a r i z e d i s l a n d s no w function as forward bases for Beijing to

challenge seven decades of American naval dominance in the Pacific Rim. This should alarm the world!

Each year, $5.3 trillion of trade passes through the South China Sea. That is roughly one third of the world’s maritime commerce! Since Japan’s defeat in World War ii, America has protected this vital trade route and brought peace to this part of the world. Now the American military is retreating, and other great powers are coming in to fill the vacuum. This is going to dramatically affect trade around the world, and U.S. trade especially.

A trade war often precedes a shooting war. That is what happened just before World War ii—especially so in Asia.

Since before the Korean War, China has had a strategy to establish a security buffer extending far from its coast and engulfing the entire South China Sea. Its current military buildup in the Paracels and the Spratlys is bringing China closer to realizing this strategy.

“China wants a bathtub,” said Marc Lanteigne, a senior research fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. “China wants waters that are theirs, that they can operate military and police vessels in, without having to worry about the presence of the U.S. or the Philippines or Vietnamese or Indian naval forces.”

China is intimidating the nations of Southeast Asia into submission to its will. It is forcing these countries to do what it wants.

Everything is headed in the direction of war.

Seizing Sea GatesWhat is happening today is very much like what happened in Southeast Asia in the 1940s under Imperial Japan. Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo tried to draw the nations of Southeast Asia into a Greater East Asia Co-Prosper-ity Sphere so they could force Western influence out of Asia.

Between 1930 and 1941, Japan established a shadow empire of economic alliances and intelligence networks across Southeast Asia. This shadow empire was to be the foundation of Tokyo’s planned Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japan’s next move was the establishment of an actual Asian empire—using military force!

Once World War ii started, the Japanese empire claimed the entire South China Sea and built military bases in some of the very same archipelagos China is militarizing today. A Japanese submarine base on the isle of Itu Aba, in the Spratly Islands, served as a staging base for Japanese invasions of the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and Malaya (now part of Malaysia). This base was instrumental in Japan’s strategy to cut off Allied shipping in the region.

The Allied victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War ii was greatly aided by the fact that they controlled the world’s most strategic sea gates, like Panama, Gibraltar and Singapore. In the decades since, however, China and the European Union have come to possess most of the world’s sea gates.

Time will prove that this is a deadly dangerous change!Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the only thing

standing between Japan and complete domination of South-east Asia was the United Kingdom. The British completed building the massive Sembawang Naval Base in Singapore in 1939. This base was meant to serve as a staging ground for the defense of India and the strategic Strait of Malacca in the event of a Japanese invasion.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called Singa-pore the “Gibraltar of the East.” It was supposed to be an impregnable fortress used to keep the peace in East Asia.

Two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japa-nese were able to conquer Singapore.

This marked the start of a period of near-apocalyptic violence in Southeast Asia. Many historians consider the fall of Singapore as the beginning of the end of the British Empire. The Japanese empire was eventually defeated by the United States, but Britain’s influence in the region was

China Is Steering the World Toward WarSatellite imagery shows China taking over the South China Sea, as it is with other trade routes globally. Both history and biblical prophecy show why this is extremely dangerous.

2 THE PHILADELPHIA TRUMPET

greatly diminished. America gradually assumed the mantle of the British Empire by taking control of the vital trade routes passing through Southeast Asia.

In 1965 when Singapore withdrew from the British-backed Malaysian Federation to declare independence, Britain volun-tarily gave up the Sembawang naval base for good. Now China is reaching out to Singapore, trying to cement control of the strait.

Britain actually gave the South China Sea prize of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. Now that U.S. military presence in the area has been drastically reduced, China is claiming the entire South China Sea as its own!

By building artificial islands atop coral reefs in the Spratlys, and installing surface-to-air missile batteries in the Paracels, China is building a new strategic sea gate. After passing through the Strait of Malacca, oil tankers and other ships pass between the Spratly and Paracel Islands on the way through the South China Sea.

Whoever controls these vital sea gates controls one third of the world’s maritime commerce.

What Prophecy ForetellsTo really understand the significance of what is happening, you must understand the prophecies of the Bible.

God delivered a sobering warning to the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 28. If the people disobeyed Him and turned to sin, He would give the strategic sea gates of the world over to their enemies. These enemies would use these sea gates to besiege and enslave biblical Israel: “And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trusted, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee” (verse 52).

This warning is not just for an ancient nation. It is a proph-ecy for the modern-day descendants of Israel! Two nations in particular represent Israel in this end time: America and Britain. Don’t believe me—you need to prove this truth for yourself. We will be happy to send you a free copy of Herbert W. Armstrong’s book The United States and Britain in Proph-ecy, which contains abundant proof.

These nations are full of terrible sins today, and God is going to correct them for that! This prophecy and several others show that He will send foreign enemies to punish America and Britain!

Fiery Cross ReefThis is one of the islands China is building in the South China Sea. In mere months, 680 acres of land has been reclaimed from the sea and turned into a permanent aircraft carrier. The reef now accommodates a 2-mile runway for China’s largest military planes. To learn about its geographic significance, see page 18.

01.22.2006 07.14.2014 09.26.2014

by brad macdonald and ron fraserThis is a slightly updated version of an article that originally appeared in 2012.

D o you believe in the predictive power of Bible prophecy?

Seven years ago, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry forecast the formation of a brief alliance between a German-led European Union and major Asian powers, based primarily on trade and commerce. Mr. Flurry’s forecast was based on a prophecy in the biblical book of Isaiah.

Last year, China proposed the launch of the Asian Infrastruc-ture Investment Bank (aiib)—a new, Chinese-run international bank specifically designed to challenge U.S. global economic leadership. America tried to convince other nations not to join. But it failed—even with its closest allies. Germany is now set to become the fourth-largest shareholder in the aiib. Germany is also being offered one of the bank’s five vice president posi-tions, according to a list of proposed nominees.

What is now unfolding is just the scenario the Prophet Isaiah described would happen in the end time. This demonstrates yet again the pinpoint accuracy of the Bible’s forecasts, as well as God’s power to bring those prophecies to pass—and the urgency of our times.

Strategically, China welcomes a strong Europe to counter America. And unlike America, a German-led Europe has no mil-itary bases or direct military interest in Asia, so China doesn’t consider a militarized, politically strong Europe a threat.

Isaiah’s prophecy is marching toward fulfillment. It links with parallel prophecies in Ezekiel and Revelation to clearly

THE GREAT ‘MART OF NA TIONS’

You can already see this prophecy moving toward its ful-fillment: The European Union is moving into South America, making trade agreements that are taking business away from the United States. Russia and China are militarizing the most important trade routes traversing the Asian continent.

This prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes! America’s enemies are securing shipping lanes and creating economic alliances that will very soon enable them to choke off America’s supply lines. Soon America will find it

csis asia maritim

e transparency initiative/digitalglobe (7)

WHAT YOU CAN FIND THERE 2.74 million square meters reclaimed • 3,110 meter airstrip (under construction) • Harbor large enough to receive tankers and major surface combatants • Multiple cement plants • Multiple support buildings • 9 temporary loading piers

JULY 2016 3

impossible to import oil and other necessities.Britain and the Jews in the Mideast will suffer a similar fate.

Start of Great TribulationBible prophecy describes a time of “great tribulation”—an end-time period of suffering on a scale never experienced in human history (Matthew 24:21; Daniel 12:1). Many other scriptures show that the nations devastated the most will be America, Britain and the Jewish state of Israel.

In the past, we believed this Tribulation would begin when these three nations were attacked militarily. Ezekiel 4, how-ever, describes the Tribulation as beginning with an economic siege against these nations.

Notice the specifics: “Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray [or engrave] upon it the city, even Jerusalem: And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.

11.05.2014 12.13.2014 02.14.2015 09.03.2015

THE GREAT ‘MART OF NA TIONS’depict the interdependent relationship developing between Germany and China. And it reveals the startling outcome.

Chapters 22 and 23 of Isaiah identify these two great mar-kets in a few different ways. In Isaiah 23:1, China is called by its ancient name, Chittim. The same verse calls the Ger-man-dominated European Union by the term used to describe a major economic power extant at the time the prophecy was written: ancient Tyre.

In this prophecy, the great northern trading power of today (of which Tyre is used as a type) is shown in relationship to China, the sea (verses 2, 4, 11), oceans (“great waters,” verse 3) and ships (verses 1 and 14) and mentioned in relation to sea-borne merchant traffic (verse 8)—all within the context of a great international market.

Isaiah 23:13 mentions “the Chaldeans” and “the Assyrian.” Prophetically, these terms refer to a great end-time European power, a union of church and state, led by Germany, whose biblical identity is Assyria, or Asshur.

An associated prophecy in Ezekiel 27:1-6 again uses mari-time terms in association with merchants enacting trade via the sea between Tyrus (called “the king of the north” in Daniel 11) and the Ashurites (Germany) in association with Chittim (China). The theme continues in relation to the main subject, Tyrus, a type of the prophesied king of the north, in verses 8-9, 12 and 22-25.

Nations mentioned in verse 21 are in the context of trade with Tyrus. Still others, especially Greece (Javan), now a vir-tual vassal state of the German-led EU, and Russia (Meshech and Tubal), hugely exposed to EU debt and greatly dependent

on German exports, are also mentioned in verses 13 and 15. Japan and Southeast Asia (Togarmah) are also brought into the equation in verse 14.

This all bespeaks a massive trading power having open access to sea gates for global trade and a powerful linkage with China at the prophesied “latter days” (Daniel 10:14).

Taken in context, the prophecies of Isaiah 23 and Ezekiel 27 align perfectly with those of Revelation 13:16-17 and Revelation 18. These all point specifically to the current interdependence of the world’s two major trading blocs: the German-dominated EU and China.

Look at how this prophecy is being fulfilled today. The facts are astonishing. From 2005 to 2015, total EU exports to China climbed from $59 billion up to $193 billion. During the same period, EU imports from China more than doubled, soaring from $182 billion to $395 billion. And Germany accounted for 45 percent of Europe’s exports to China, and 28 percent of EU imports from China. In 2014, China opened its first European chamber of commerce in Berlin, in hopes of further promoting economic relations and investment in Europe. In 2015, Germany’s trade with China totaled $177 billion. If current trends persist, China will become the biggest single destination for German exports by 2020.

Perhaps some mock us for letting Bible prophecy inform our analysis of world events. But it’s getting harder and harder to deny the facts: Germany is the unchecked leader of Europe; Europe is transforming into a German-designed creation; and relations between Germany, China and Russia are getting healthier and stronger!

JULY 2016 3

• Air-defense guns • Anti-frogmen defenses • Communications equipment • Greenhouse • 2 helipads • Military facility • Multilevel administrative facility • 2 lighthouses • Possible radar tower under construction • Possible gun emplacements (8) • Possible satellite communication antennas (10)


Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 4:1-3).

The “house of Israel” primarily refers not to the Jews, but to the modern descendants of Israel, specifically the United States and Britain. Here is pictured a siege against the house of Israel. It is a prophecy that one third of these nations will be destroyed economically and socially by a siege! Other prophe-cies show that this siege will cause an economic cataclysm that will develop into race wars and fighting for food and survival!

A ‘Mart of Nations’Isaiah 23 discusses a powerful “mart of nations” that includes both European and Asian nations, including Russia, China and Japan (sidebar: “The Great ‘Mart of Nations,’” page 2).

Events are moving toward the fulfillment of this prophecy. In recent years, the European Union’s economic powerhouse overtook the U.S. and Japan to become China’s biggest trad-

ing partner. China and Europe have undertaken many joint ventures in recent years, including a 2015 landmark deal between Germany’s largest exchange and China’s Foreign Exchange Trade System, which is significantly strengthening financial links between the two sides.

A top German banker, Folker Hellmeyer, chief economist at Bremer Landesbank, predicts that the Moscow-Beijing economic axis will prevail against the United States. He also warns that economic damage for Germany and the European Union will be significant if they continue to follow U.S. policy in opposition to the brics alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Germany has already joined the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Financial analysts like Jim Willie are warning that Germany may already be planning to ditch the dollar and join the brics nations!

The relationship we see developing between the “king of the north” and the “kings of the east” is exactly what Isaiah prophesied over 2,700 years ago!

Think about the role that this alliance will likely play in the economic besiegement of America.

Herbert W. Armstrong long prophesied that the alliance between Europe and South America will grow extremely strong. The most significant factors that will cement this connection are religion and language: Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion of Latin America; and after Chinese and English, Spanish is the next-most spoken language in the world. But it will not be a union of equals: The Latin American countries will become vassal states of Europe!

With a German-led Europe (referred to in prophecy as “the king of the north”) possessing great maritime power, North America will be f lanked on the east by Europe and on the south by Latin America.

The Bible contains many prophecies of that European power attacking America. This is where China and the other giants of Asia enter the picture. Considering that China now possesses most of the world’s strategic sea gates (at one time held by Brit-ain and America), the German-led Holy Roman Empire will need to form a brief alliance with the Asian powers identified in Isaiah 23 (Russia, China, Japan—the “kings of the east”).

If Europe finds a way to take advantage of key resources and strategic holdings of China, Russia and Japan—even for a short period—then it would have more than enough power to besiege the Anglo-Saxon nations.

This is why China’s moves to militarize the South China Sea should be so concerning.

The United States and Britain are going to be left out in the cold as two gigantic trade blocs, Europe and Asia, mesh together and begin calling the shots in world com-merce. These nations of Israel are going to be literally besieged—economically frozen out of world trade!

This is all building toward the Great Tribulation siege that Ezekiel prophesied. It will usher in the crisis of crises—the worst ever on Earth! (Please request my book Ezekiel: The End-Time Prophet. I am just finishing a significant update of this book that includes the information in this article. It con-tains a lot more never-before-printed material about the prophecies you are reading here.)

God thunders to Britain and America, “I am against you” (Ezekiel 13:8). These are the most terrifying words a nation could hear!

Time is extremely short. Do we dare scoff at the living God?God promises to correct these nations for their disobedi-

ence—because they have given Him no alternative. “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11).

Will we repent of our sins so America and Britain won’t die? Or is it already too late? (Request a free copy of my booklet Lam-entations: The Point of No Return for more on this subject.) We have been proclaiming this warning message for over 70 years!

CHINA PAGE 36 u

These militarized islands now function as forward bases for Beijing to challenge seven decades of American naval dominance in the Pacific Rim.

TERRITORIAL Chinese soldiers stand guard in the Spratly Islands.

reuters

E xercising benefits your body—that is obvious. But here’s some-thing that isn’t. Recent studies confirm what scientists have believed for decades: Exercise

also keeps your brain fit.If you do not safeguard your brain, its

overall physical structure can actually deteriorate w ith under usage and age. Shrinkage, death of nerve cells, and other factors contribute to annual reductions of as much as 0.5 to 1 percent of the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer of the brain.

Although a lot of this is said to be a ge -r e l at e d , phy s iolo g i s t s a nd neuroscientists have evidence showing that exercise seems to actually slow or reverse the brain’s physical decay. It has even been proved that exercise can contribute to neurogenesis—the creation of new brain cells. Just like with muscles or the heart, exercise also bulks up the brain!

The science is pretty solid. The benefits are exciting. But how many people are aware that fitness benefits your brain?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults get at least 2½ hours of moderate cardio exercise and two muscle-strengthening workouts every week. Yet only 20 percent of adults meet the guidelines for both these exercises.

The fact that exercise is so beneficial to the brain suggests a correlation between our sedentary lifestyle and the rise in brain-related disease. Alzheimer’s disease, the most well-known form of cognitive impairment, currently affects over 5 million people in the United States, and the number is expected to continue rising. The Alzheimer’s Association reported that nearly 85,000 people died from this brain disease in 2013. Glob-ally, one new case of dementia is detected every four seconds.

Exercise Your Brain Into HealthYour brain is capable of growing new cells throughout your lifetime. But you have to give it what it needs. In January 2011, Scientific American reported on research that says exercise is a cognitive superstar. The research states that exercise actually boosts the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning.

Specifically this happens because endurance exercise ele-vates a molecule in the brain called fndc5 and its by-product, irisin. This causes the molecule to cross the blood brain bar-rier, increasing the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (bdnf) and activating genes involved in cognition.

In plain English, exercise starts a chain reaction that improves brain health for all ages. In fact, new research from the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh shows that virtually any type of physical activity can improve brain structure

by jorg mardian

and reduce Alzheimer’s risk by a whopping 50 to 60 percent.

Evidence of cognitive gains produced by exercise is strong across a range of ages. The University of Illinois found that

elementary schoolchildren exercising just 40 minutes a day scored an average IQ increase of 3.8 points. College students who worked out before class also bene-

fited, improving test scores by 17 percent on average. People 50 years and older scored 20 percent higher on cognitive tests after a six-month workout regimen.

Increased job performance is also a benefit of better brain health. Employees

who undertake regular exercise can boost overall workplace productivity by 15 percent, according to

research by Leeds Metropolitan University. They are also less likely to call in sick, have better attendance

and more focus while at work.

What Type of Exercise Is Best?Researchers at the University of British Columbia rate

aerobic exercise as best for brain health. For participants in their study, it took only 20 minutes of aerobic exercise to improve long-term memory. If you only exercise with weights, throw in an occasional run or bike ride to receive the best of both worlds: a healthier body and brain.

Interestingly, activities such as ballroom dancing that incorporate both physical and mental demands have the highest impact on cognitive function. This indicates that the best brain activities are those involving coordination, rhythm and strategy (BrainHQ.com). If that’s not your taste, vary your workout by incorporating circuits with speed, jumps and weights to gain these benefits by constantly redirecting your muscles’ attention.

The recent studies have focused on aerobic activities, so getting your heart rate up through brisk walking or jogging will definitely help your brain.

Your Brain Loves BalancePeople tend to think that if a little is good, a lot must be better. But we should be careful. Justin Rhodes, Ph.D., a neurosci-entist at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, found that bdnf concentrations can increase dramatically after excessive amounts of exercise, meaning their benefits can actually max out and backfire.

Good health comes about when we do the things the body requires in a balanced, consistent manner. Research shows that moderate amounts of endurance exercise is perfect to gain maximum brain benefits.

To prevent brain stagnation and deterioration, you need physical exercise, continual learning, and regular cognitive stimulation. So go ahead and exercise—not only to improve your body, but also as one of the most effective means for preserving and enhancing cognitive function at any age. n

Jorg Mardian is a certified personal trainer.

Cross-train Your Brain

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T o many people today, the Islamic State has become the face of radical Islamist terror-ism, thanks largely to its flair for drama. From its bases

in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State is sowing trouble and chaos throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and, increasingly, throughout Europe and the wider Western world.

Its handiwork is so ubiquitous and so horrific that many in the West now consider the Islamic State the number one global terrorist threat and believe defeating the group is the solution to

global Islamic terrorism. For many Western governments, confronting the terrorist group widely known as isis (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) is the focal point in their foreign policy toward radical Islam.

One can understand the impulse to focus on the Islamic State. Reading about isis fighters wedging a 4-year-old child into an oil drum and setting it ablaze stirs the emotions. But fighting the war on radical Islam by focusing on the Islamic State has led to some unwise assumptions, and to the West making some risky decisions.

Courting IranIn Western capitals across the world, the Islamic Republic of Iran is increas-ingly seen and embraced as a logical ally in the war against the Islamic State. If you consider isis the primary enemy, then courting Iran seems rational: Shia Iran despises Sunni isis and wants to see the terrorist organization eradicated just as much as we do, so let’s join forces and fight. Recruiting Iran’s assistance makes sense practically and tactically too, considering Tehran’s proximity to the fight.

We see this logic used regularly by Western journalists and politicians. I n A pr i l , Ne ws w e ek pr o duc e d a n ar ticle titled “W hy We Should Let Iran Fight Islamic State.” The author wrote: “The way to offset Sunni isis is to let Shia Iran do the fighting in the Middle East’s sectarian war, via forces almost as vicious including Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guard. And by supporting Shia movements fighting Sunni radicals as Iran is already doing in Yemen” (April 19).

The National Interest argued, “While a threat to U.S. interests, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (isis) presents us with a unique opportunity to ‘reset’ the Middle East equation—to actively transform regional relations, to abate the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia and to forge a new working relationship with Iran. As the United States moves to escalate its war against isis and forge a coalition against the terrorist group, it is important that Iran be included in the process. After all, U.S. and Iranian interests have increasingly converged in the Middle East with the emergence of a common enemy, and no power in the region is better suited to taking on isis than Iran and its affili-ated Shia militias in Iraq” (Oct. 6, 2014; emphasis added throughout).

Again, allying with Iran seems logical if you consider isis the supreme threat. But this ignores the fact that for nearly four decades Iran has been the world’s number one state spon-sor of Islamic terrorism.

Tehran, of course, is quite happy to play along. Iran’s leaders make routine statements condemning the Islamic State and expressing a larm at the group’s vigorous growth. They make

The West considers Iran an ally in the war on terror. This mistake will prove fatal. by brad macdonald

gary dorning/trumpet

ON THE SAME TEAM

THE ISLAMIC STATE AND IRAN

JULY 2016 7

gestures that augment the widespread belief in the West that Shiite Iran and Sunni isis are mortal enemies, inca-pable of ever cooperating. The West listens naively and rewards Iran for showing itself supportive and coopera-tive. Iran smiles and enjoys the political, financial and strategic benefits won with a few simple lies.

The strategy of defeating the Islamic State by working with Iran, or at least empowering Iran to fight the terror-ists, has broader implications for the America-Iran relationship. The more dependent America is on Iran to fight the Islamic State, the more careful Wa sh i ng ton must be not to ma ke decisions or pursue policies that could upset Tehran. This gives Iran leverage in the broader relationship.

The premise behind America recruit-ing Iran to fight the Islamic State is the belief that Iran and isis are archene-mies. But what if this assumption is incorrect?

The Iran-Islamic State RelationshipLike most national, tribal, ethical and religious relationships in the Middle East, the relationship between the Islamic State and Iran is not nearly as simple as many Westerners believe. Ev idence proves that Iran and the Islamic State are not archenemies. In fact, Iran is at least partly responsible for the Islamic State’s creation!

In his article “Iran Is More Deeply Tied to ISIS Than You Think,” Benjamin Decker provides a detailed explanation of Iran’s involvement in the creation of various Sunni terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda. He writes, “As the West continues to partner with Iran to ‘degrade and ultimately destroy’ the Islamic State, it is worth remembering that one of Iran’s highest-ranking ter-rorists was instrumental in founding al Qaeda, and that the split between Shia and Sunni jihadis is murky at best” (Tower, December 2015).

The Islamic State emerged from al Qaeda in Iraq. Decker continues: “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the rise of al Qaeda in Iraq (aqi), the predecessor to the Islamic State, has been well docu-mented; comparably little attention has been given to the group’s global reach. While the Islamic State was born out of

Osama bin Laden’s global jihad against the West, many overlook the importance of another player in the equation—Iran.

“This may seem surprising given that Iran, the stalwart of the Shia Crescent, is currently embroiled in a regional war against the Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq. However, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, described as one of the ‘largest and most dynamic intelligence agencies in the Middle East’ by the Pentagon’s Irregular War-fare Support Program, has, over the past 20 years, provided financial, material, technological and other support services to aqi.” This article explains in detail Iran’s history with grooming and training key Sunni ter-rorist leaders, and financing and sup-plying weapons and tactical assistance to various Sunni terrorist groups.

An article from the Tower’s web-site, “The Different Stages of Iranian Support for isis,” said, “Recent reports that Iran is supporting isis through its funding of Hamas are a reminder that the Islamic Republic has long backed the powerful jihadist group and its predecessors in a variety of ways.

“In 2012, the United States Treasury Department exposed the extensive f inancial ties between Iran and al Qaeda in Iraq” (Dec. 16, 2015). Again,

this is the terrorist organization that evolved into the Islamic State!

Ira n wasn’t a lone in suppor ting and exploiting the rise of al Qaeda in Iraq. For example, a Pentagon report from August 2012 revealed that the U.S. and the West once supported the

“major forces driving the insurgency in Syria” in an effort to dislodge the regime of President Bashar Assad. That opposition movement comprised of

“the Salafist [movement], the Muslim Brotherhood and aqi.” But that support was brief and much less than Iran’s.

A n o t h e r f a c t t h a t h a s b e e n

exaggerated in the West is the belief that Iran and Syria are sincerely trying to destroy the Islamic State. TheTower.org explained: “As aqi metastasized across Iraq and eventually became isis, Iran sought to position itself at the vanguard of the global effort against the terrorist group, claiming that it was dedicated to beating back its advances. However, Iran and its cli-ents, particularly Syrian President Bashar Assad, have notably failed to dislodge isis from any significant territory” (ibid).

The article quotes Michael Pregent, a former U.S. military intelligence officer, warning in May 2015 that Iran and its allies were not actively engaged in sustained battles with the Islamic State. In fact, he stated, “Iran needs the

threat of isis and Sunni jihadist groups to stay in Syria and Iraq in order to become further entrenched in Damas-cus and Baghdad.” In June 2015, U.S. officials “charged Syria with bombing non-Islamist rebels ‘in support of [the Islamic State’s] advance on Aleppo,’ which helped the terror group push back Syrian opposition factions that were fighting Assad’s regime.”

The April 2016 issue of Tablet con-tains an interesting interview with Abdul Halim Khaddam, former vice president and foreign minster of Syria. This man understands the way the

Iran and the Islamic State are not archenemies. In fact, Iran is at least partly responsible for the Islamic State’s creation.

“ Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security … has, over the past 20 years, provided financial, material, technological and other support services to AQI (al Qaeda in Iraq, predecessor to the Islamic State).”

BENJAMIN DECKER


Middle East works, and he understands I r a n . I n t he i nt er v ie w, K h add a m r e v e a le d t h at S y r i a n s t r o n g m a n Assad—who is an Iranian proxy—and the Islamic State are partners. “It is a fact that Daesh [an Arabic name for the Islamic State] does not fight the gov-ernment in Damascus any more than the government in Damascus bombs Daesh,” he explained. “Although it is Sunni, Daesh’s roots are in Iran—in

a group of ex-officers of the Iraqi Presi-dential Guard that went to train in Iran and that Iran accepted because they thought they could use them later—and their calculation proved right. Daesh worked with Iran and with the Syrian regime to get the Americans away from Iraq. The idea was to then share the territory between Sunnis and Shiites, an arrangement which the Iranians refused once the U.S. were gone.”

Ir an and the Islamic State are not the mortal enemies we think they are!

It is dangerous to assume that Iran thinks the same way about the Islamic State as the West does. The truth is, the Islamic State’s rise has proven enor-mously beneficial to Iran, the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism.

First, the Islamic State has distracted America and the West from Iran’s ter-rorist activities. Thanks to isis, Iran is no longer on the West’s radar as a terrorist threat.

Second, the presence of the Islamic State gives Iran an opportunity to refashion its reputation in the region and globally. Iran’s leaders regularly

deliver statements promising to defend the persecuted from the Islamic State and bring stability to Iraq and the broader region. Tehran is exploiting the violence and instability created by isis to cast itself as the region’s savior. Iran’s leaders have promised to rescue Iraq, as well as Christians and other isis victims. Compared to the Islamic State, Iran seems like a picture of moderation.

Third, the rise of the Islamic State has provided Iran with the opportu-nity to bolster its military presence in Iraq and Syria. Iranian officials, s o l d i e r s a n d intelligence per-sonnel are setting up offices all over Iraq and Syria, all under the guise of f ig ht i n g t he Islamic State. If isis’s pr e s ence in Iraq and Syria diminishes, keep a n e ye on w ho

fills the power vacuum. It will be Iran!When you consider all the facts, it is

obvious that the rise of the Islamic State has actually made Iran stronger. The isis threat has boosted Iran’s reputation in the international community. It has enabled Iran to extract concessions from America and the West. It has improved Iran’s strategic position in Iraq and throughout the Middle East. And it is undermining, both directly and indirectly, Iran’s primary opponents in the region, most notably Saudi Arabia.

Same TeamDon’t buy the narrative that Iran is terrified by the rise of the Islamic State. Don’t be deceived by the lie that these two are mortal enemies, and that Iran is willing to join the West in defeating the terrorist group. When it comes to isis, Iran seeks to manage its activities, not eliminate its presence.

T h i s me a n s en s u r i n g i si s i s n’t allowed territorial gains too close to Iran’s border. It means making sure the Islamic State doesn’t establish total con-trol over Iraq or any key assets. It means keeping the Islamic State in check so it

doesn’t affect Iran’s aspirations.Iran has no interest in eliminating

the Islamic State from the Middle East, and certainly not from Europe or the West! Iran has two basic ambitions. First, it wants to be the dominant power in the Middle East. Second, it wants to undermine and destroy Israel, America and the West. Right now the presence of the Islamic State is help-ing Iran achieve those ambitions!

Finally, consider what Bible proph-ecy has to say about the relationship between Iran and the Islamic State. The key prophecy is Daniel 11:40-43. Verse 40 says, “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the coun-tries, and shall overflow and pass over.”

Notice the time setting: These events are happening at “the time of the end.”

Next, it’s obvious that the “king of the south” comes from the Middle East. These verses describe the king of the north invading the Middle East and North Africa in order to confront the

“king of the south.” Who is this king?Gerald Flurry explains the answer in

detail in his free booklet The King of the South. This booklet was written over 20 years ago, when it was much harder to see from events that the king of the south would be comprised of Iran and radical Islam. Nevertheless, Mr. Flurry wrote, “Iran will undoubtedly lead the king of the south. This power will be comprised of the radical Islamic movement. Iran is working fiercely to lead this radically militant religion. … This king of the south is undoubtedly the Iran-led radical Muslims. They are strong and are pushing others around in the Middle East.”

The king of the south is radical Islam, operating out of the Middle East and North Africa, with Iran at the head!

Today this prophecy is being fulfilled openly and dramatically. Even a child can observe Middle East politics and see that Iran and radical Islam are the biblically prophesied king of the south.

Prophetically, the Islamic State and Iran are on the same team, and both are working successfully for the destruc-tion of the West! n

“ Although it is Sunni, [the Islamic State’s] roots are in Iran. … [It] worked with Iran and with the Syrian regime to get the Americans away from Iraq.”

ABDUL HALIM KHADDAM

john thys/afp/getty images

JULY 2016 9

SocialismStrong support among youth for Bernie Sanders

reveals the nation’s immediate future. by andrew miiller

O n Jan. 11, 1996, Barack Obama signed a contract promising to publicly support and asso-ciate himself with the New

Party. The New Party was a socialist organization in Chicago, Illinois, that was deeply hostile to the idea of Amer-ican capitalism. When journalist Stan-ley Kurtz reported this signing to the public in 2008, the Obama presidential campaign sharply denied the claim as a “crackpot smear.”

In 2012, records from the Wiscon-sin Historical Society def initively established the truth of the matter. It turns out that Mr. Obama did sign the New Party contract.

America has had a socialist-lean-ing—or simply socialist—president for nearly eight years, and it has the European-style socialist principles strenuously pushed by the Obama administration to prove it.

Now it is 2016, and America once again has a presidential candidate with a radical socialist past. This time, the truth is even more blatantly obvious.

Bernie Sanders and his wife traveled to the Union of Soviet Socialist Repub-lics for their honeymoon in May 1988. The trip was apparently undertaken as part of Sanders’s off icial duties as mayor of Burl ing ton, Ver mont. Sanders later wrote a commentary for the Harvard Crimson praising the perestroika reforms of Soviet dictator Mikhail Gorbachev. Instead of herald-ing “the end of history” like other poli-ticians, Sanders called on Americans to take the revolutions of 1989 as a model. He called for the implementation of an American glasnost.

While attending the University of Chicago in the 1960s, Sanders became a member of the Young People’s Socialist League. He backed the People’s Party in the 1972 presidential election, which famously demanded that any income higher than $55,000 must be outlawed. Sanders also served as a presidential elector for the Socialist Workers’ Party in 1980. This party traces its origins back to the Communist League of America, an organization that propa-gated the ideals of infamous Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky.

But this election year, Sanders has felt that the Democratic Party is now

socialist enough that he is running for its presidential nomination. And judg-ing by the huge, enthusiastic crowds at his rallies and his strong performance against the more-traditional frontrun-ner, it appears he was dead right about the Democrats’ socialist leanings.

While President Obama obtained office by covering up his radical past, Sanders has proudly embraced the fact that he is a democratic socialist. The

most shocking part of this narrative is that America has changed so much

in the past generation that Sanders is now the preferred candidate for office

by almost half the Democratic Party.By the end of April, almost 2 million

people under age 30 had voted for Senator Sanders, nearly three times more than for any other candidate in either party. An Iowa caucus entrance poll found that Sanders received an overwhelming 84 percent of the vote

from the millennial generation.Though Sanders is unlikely to

receive the Democratic Party nom-ination for president, his socialist ideology has taken root in the

gett

y im

ages

next generation of American voters. Unless something drastically changes, the future of the United States lies in the hands of a new majority—one agitating for socialism over the free market.

Defining SocialismFor ty-three percent of A mer icans u nder a ge 30 now v iew socia l i sm favorably, compared to only 32 percent who think well of capitalism. This is according to a national YouGov survey from last January.

In related news, only 16 percent of Millennials accurately defined social-ism as government ownership of the means of production, according to a 2010 New York Times survey.

Stop and think about that. Socialism is more popular than capitalism among young Americans, but fewer than one in five of these Americans actually know what socialism is!

U nited States President Barack Obama stoked con-troversy in March when he suggested to an audience of Argentine youth that they shouldn’t get caught up

in ideological disputes between capitalism and communism. Instead, he urged the next generation of Argentine leaders to pursue a mixed economy that uses the best bits of both Communist and capitalist theory.

At a Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative town hall in Buenos Aires, the U.S. president advised: “So often in the past there’s been a sharp division between left and right, between capitalist and Communist or socialist. And especially in the Americas, that’s been a big debate, right? Oh, you know, you’re a capitalist Yankee dog, and oh, you know, you’re some crazy Communist that’s going to take away everybody’s property. And I mean, those are interesting intellectual arguments, but I think for your generation, you should be practical and just choose from what works. You don’t have to worry about whether it neatly fits into socialist theory or capitalist the-ory—you should just decide what works.”

President Obama further elaborated on what he meant by saying that Cuba’s Communist system under dictator Raúl Castro has made “great progress” in providing all citizens with free access to basic education and health care. He said the Cubans “should be congratulated” for this “huge achievement.” He added that he believed the “most successful economies are rooted in a market-based system,” so an ideal economy should have a private sector subject to community (i.e. government) oversight.

Two days earlier, President Obama held a press conference alongside Castro in Havana. There he promised never to impose American ideals on the Cuban people. Instead, he hoped

A mer ica and Cuba could learn from each other’s exam-ple on human rights! He cited freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion as important Amer-ican values. He also said he agreed with Castro that gov-ernment-provided education, health care and pensions are also human rights.

As President Obama nears the end of his second term, he is becoming more honest about his radical worldview. For most of his presidency, Mr. Obama has refrained from openly admitting his disdain for constitutionally limited gov-ernment. Now he is starting to openly admit that he thinks Communist economic theory has some good points.

As President Obama suggested in Argentina, he may be in the process of using Communist theory to circumvent and super-sede America’s traditional constitutionally limited government and its system of checks and balances and separation of powers.

Once the federal government has the power to regulate the educational system, the health-care system and the private sector, the only guarantor of liberty is the benevolence of the leader. President Obama’s description of a nation with a state-run educational system, a state-run health-care sector and a state-supervised private sector doesn’t fit Adam Smith-style capitalism or Karl Marx-style communism. It fits the mixed socialist market economy of a Chinese-style authoritarian bureaucracy! andrew miiller

W hen r e sp ondent s who v ie we d socialism favorably were asked to define socialism in their own words in a Rea-son-Rupe survey, they defined it with phrases such as “being kind” or “being together.” Others defined it as a system where “the government pays for our needs.” In short, when these Millennials hear socialism, they think free education, free health care and subsidized childcare.

Millennials love Sanders’s message about a political revolution that will break up the big banks, free students from oppressive student loans, and bring free health care to all. Yet most of them haven’t thought about and certainly cannot explain how to accomplish this. Sanders’s proposals would increase total federal spending by about 30 percent, a projected $68 trillion over the next decade. So far, his tax proposals only include increases for those who earn over $250,000 per year. His proposed

budgets, as should be mathematically obvious, contain massive deficits.

Sooner or later, socialists have to accept the facts: If you want a Scandina-vian-style welfare state, you get Scandi-navian-level taxes. Denmark has a top marginal tax rate of 60 percent, and it applies to any income that is higher than 20 percent above the average. Translated to America, this means that all incomes over $60,000 would be taxed 60 percent.

Most Mi l len n ia ls don’t actua l ly support tax hikes on the lower middle class, yet they haven’t done the math to determine how to pay for Sanders’s proposals. Eileen F. Toplansky, a social commentator and adjunct English instructor, recounts the example of an emotion-driven English student. The stu-dent heard Dr. Thomas Sowell’s explana-tion of how the minimum wage hurts the poor by driving up unemployment. She could not logically or statistically refute

Capitalist or Communist? ‘Pick What Works’

juan mabrom

ata/afp/getty images


PRESIDENTIAL ADVICE President Obama speaks to Argentine youth in March.

JULY 2016 11

his argument; she could only sputter and yell that the current minimum wage was due to the “greed, greed, greed” of the companies. In another example, a reporter asked attendees at the Demo-cratic National Convention if they would support a complete ban on all corporate profits. Many said yes.

This is anecdotal evidence, but it sure is piling up!

Failing CivicsAs Americans prepare to choose their next president this November, a disturb-ing study from Xavier University finds that approximately one in three U.S. citizens would fail the civics portion of an immigration naturalization test.

Key findings from this study show that 85 percent of respondents could not define “rule of law.” Seventy-one percent couldn’t identify the Constitu-tion as the “supreme law of the land.” Seventy-five percent did not know the function of the judicial branch, and 57 percent could not define “amendment.”

Another survey of recent college grad-uates in the U.S. found that 43 percent could not identify freedom of speech as a First Amendment right, and 10 percent thought television personality Judge Judy was on the Supreme Court.

Former U.S. President Thomas Jeffer-son said, “If a nation expects to be igno-rant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be” (emphasis added throughout).

A great number of Americans no longer seem to understand that the democratic socia l ist proposa ls of Bernie Sanders require more than just accepting tax increases. Such pro-posals require expanding the already behemoth federal bureaucracy in order to administer this massive expansion of the welfare state.

America’s gigantic federal bureau-cracy is an unknown and unknowable mystery to average Americans. U.S. Constitution drafter and former U.S. President James Madison once wrote that the laws of the land must not be so voluminous and complex that the average citizen cannot know them. Yet that is exactly what America has today. The enormous executive branch and its myriad agencies already have the power to pass laws (as regulations),

enforce them and even judge whether it was in their right. Yet for true socialists, this powerful administrative state is still not massive enough.

The Road to AuthoritarianismSocialists like Bernie Sanders rarely call for full-blown government ownership of the means of production. They call for policies that amount to government management of the means of production. Such policies calling for extensive fed-eral intervention into local affairs stand in direct violation of the limits placed on federal power by the U.S. Constitu-tion. Yet, when people express concern about the dangers of a centrally planned economy, Sanders tries to assuage such fears by saying, “The government, in a democratic society, is the people.”

Yet, America’s founders understood that an individual’s rights could be trampled by an out-of-control majority just as easily as by an autocratic dicta-tor or king. That’s why former Presi-dent Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers that unchecked democracies are

“incompatible with personal security or the rights of property.” Without the checks and balances of a constitutional republ ic to l i m it federa l power, a majority of people can simply vote to take away the rights of a minority.

That’s why it has been said that the difference between democratic social-ism and authoritarian socialism is the difference between a mob voting for the seizure of private property, and a dicta-tor—elected by that mob—ordering the seizure of private property!

The election of Hugo Chávez as pres-ident of Venezuela in 1998 is a classic example of how democratic socialism le ad s t o aut hor it a r i a n s o c i a l i sm . Although Chávez came to power with the legitimate support of a majority of Venezuelans, he was able to reinvent himself as an authoritarian dictator once the levers of power were in his hands. When a nation isn’t grounded in the rule of law, it’s not hard for the fickle

will of the majority to be subverted by the willpower of a dictatorial autocrat!

Ideological SubversionThe socialist supporters of Bernie Sanders are the ideological—in some cases literal—grandchildren of 1960s student radicals. Inspired by the writ-ings of Communist philosophers like Antonio Gramsci and Herbert Marcuse, these student radicals of the New Left movement believed economic revolu-tion had to be preceded by cultural rev-olution. While this radical movement definitely favored socialist economic reforms, its supporters focused more on matters of sex, gender and race than on who owns the means of production.

Gramsci theorized that the radical left never gained control of America and Western Europe as it did over czarist Russia because faith in God, family loyalties and lawful limits on government power were thoroughly represented in cultural institutions. He concluded that one must therefore capture the culture of a nation before he can capture the power of the state. By culture, Gramsci meant churches, unions, political parties, universities, educational centers and myriad other non-government institutions.

As the passions of the 1960s cooled,

many Gramsci-inspired student radicals flooded into two professions in partic-ular: community organizing and aca-demia. As professors, they taught that the classic American narrative about individual liberty and constitutional checks and balances was a mask for the power of wealthy, white, European males. They touted alternative histories such as Howard Zinn’s Marxist-inspired textbook People’s History of the United States. As recently as 2006, a nationally representative survey of American professors revealed that roughly 18 percent of social scientists in American universities self-identified as Marxists!

Tragically, the f irst generation in American history that could afford

Approximately one in three U.S. citizens would fail the civics portion of an immigration naturalization test.


mass higher education was taught that traditional American principles like personal responsibility, individual lib-erty, free markets and limited govern-ment were racist and elitist. They were taught that democratic socialism was the only way to create utopia on Earth.

Many people look at the generations educated in this ideology, sigh and say,

“Kids will be kids.” They don’t realize

that this state of American education and culture was an explicit socialist objective. And it has been achieved!

Utopian DangersSanders’s popularity with young voters isn’t just some shallow fad. After four decades of socialist influence in Amer-ica’s institutions of higher learning, Millennials are taking socialist ideas to heart.

“He’s not moving a party to the left. He’s moving a generation to the left,” Harvard University researcher Della Volpe said of Sanders. “Whether or not he’s winning or losing, it’s really that he’s impacting the way in which a generation—the largest generation in the history of America—thinks about politics.”

There is a great danger here. Remem-ber, the line between democratic social-ism and authoritarian socialism is thin. Most democratic socialist revolutions throughout history progress to author-itarianism. Many of those have become full-blown dictatorships!

Late Trumpet columnist Ron Fraser taught in his Herbert W. Armstrong College International Relations course that there are two broad theories of political thought: realism and utopi-anism. A realist accepts the biblical truth that human nature is basically evil, whereas a utopian believes that human nature is basically good.

America’s founders were realists. Rec-ognizing that human nature is evil, they devised a system of checks and balances intended to limit the power possessed by any single branch of government.

The world’s socialist and Marxist

movements a re rooted in utopia n thought. Generally speaking, they believe that 99 percent of humanity is basically good, but they are being restrained by a corrupt upper class. If the 99 percent can overthrow their oppressors, the reasoning goes, then out of their goodness, they can establish a government that will abolish poverty, racism, sexism and income inequality.

To accomplish this, you do not need to limit government and maximize per-sonal responsibility and freedom—you need to reduce personal responsibility and freedom, and empower govern-ment. You need an administrative state!

Millennials seem to view the current crop of Washington politicians as part of the corrupt upper class. They reason that things will be different if they can get a political outsider like Sanders into off ice—a man who can reform the bureaucratic apparatus of the U.S. government to be for the people.

What they don’t realize is that the you n g p e ople who s upp or t e d t he Bolshevik Revolution in Russia or the Communist Revolution in Cuba thought the same way!

Dictators will always try to hijack governments—that is, until the day all human beings develop righteous char-acter. And because that righteousness comes only from God, humanity is much better off having a constitutional system of checks and balances that prevents the concentration of power in the hands of the state.

No Freedom Without LawThe framers of the Constitution went to great lengths to ensure the power of the federal government was limited. They divided the federal government into legislative, executive and judicial branches, designing each branch to check the power of the others.

Legislators and presidents were still elected via democratic means, and the supreme law of the land was enshrined in the text of the Constitution.

In an article titled “No Law Without Order, No Freedom Without Law,” British historian Paul Johnson wrote,

“[B]oth in Virginia and in New England t o t he nor t h , t he c olon i s t s we r e determined, God-fearing men, often in search of a religious toleration denied them at home, who brought their fami-lies and were anxious to farm and estab-lish permanent settlements. They put political and religious freedom before riches …. Thus took shape the economic dynamo that eventually became the United States—an experiment designed to establish the rule of God on Earth …” (Sunday Telegraph, Dec. 26, 1999).

America’s founders authored a doc-ument to protect Americans from the extremes of human reason. To a great extent, the Constitution was based on God’s law. Tyrants, unjust judges, biased leaders and even the American people themselves were restrained from unlawful actions by the principles of this noble document.

“The Constitution is the foundation of our republic,” writes the Trumpet’s editor in chief Gerald Flurry in No Freedom Without Law. “And the Ten Commandments were, in many ways, the foundation of the Constitution. Our forefathers believed that if we didn’t keep God’s Ten Commandments, ou r r epubl ic wou ld c ol l ap s e! We can’t afford to take the words of our founders lightly, if we want to see our nation stand. It was much harder for our Founding Fathers to spill streams of blood winning our freedom, and to create and establish our constitutional law, than it is for us just to maintain it!”

It is easy to blame President Barack Obama or Sen. Bernie Sanders for Ameri-ca’s precipitous decline. Yet they are only able to fundamentally transform Amer-ican society because the great majority of America’s people have stopped loving the Bible-based principles America was founded upon. The spirit of lawlessness that has taken hold in America can only end in the erosion of our freedoms. n

Most of history’s democratic socialist revolutions progress to authoritarianism. Many have become full-blown dictatorships.

Do you understand the truth about human nature?

To learn more about this truth from the Bible, request our free booklet

Human Nature: What Is It?

JULY 2016 13

T h e 2 0 0 8 G r e at R e c e s s ion changed the world in ways we are only just beginning to under-

stand. Perhaps one of the most underap-preciated is the discrediting of limited government and free markets. With the foundations of capitalism shaken, many people are trying to understand what went wrong—and wondering if social-ism is the answer. Some even claim it is what the Bible teaches.

For many people, achieving a moral e c onomy me a n s r a i s i n g t a xe s on corporations and the wealthy to make sure they pay their “fair share.” To students and supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, it means student loan forgiveness, free college and free national health care.

To the hundreds of homeless people who turned out to hear Pope Francis speak at the Archdiocese of Washing-ton’s Catholic Charities offices, it meant free houses. “The Son of God came into this world as a homeless person. The Son of God knew what it was to start life without a roof over his head,” the pope

government-enforced wealth redistribu-tion. But what these verses really show is that the Bible advocates generosity. These are two very different concepts.

Generosity springs from free will. T he mot ivat ion to g ive a nd sha re originates in compassion, as 1 John 3:17 indicates—but there is choice involved. With socialism, it is the opposite. Redis-tribution of wealth is always by force of government. The government simply uses its overwhelming power to take what it thinks is “fair” from the “givers.”

God has created laws that govern human action and that work automati-cally, like the laws of physics. A principle of the Bible is that there are blessings for obedience and curses for disobedi-ence. God is not forcing people to obey His law. Blessings are the natural result of obeying His laws and principles. Generosity and sharing with those in need are biblical commands. Yet under God’s system—aside from tithes, which we will look at shortly—it is up to the giver to decide to give and how much he

said. There is “no social or moral justifi-cation, … whatsoever, for lack of housing.”

But for most, the common feeling is that the system is broken and that the power of the government is needed to redistribute the wealth from those who have it to those who don’t.

Unfettered capitalism is the “dung of the devil,” says Pope Francis. Working for economic justice, however, is a Christian “commandment.” It is the moral and fair thing to do.

Is he right?

Socialism in the Bible?Is socialism really the biblical system? Socialists point to several scriptures.

“He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none …” (Luke 3:11). And 1 John 3:17 says, “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

S o m e p e o p l e c o n c l u d e f r o m these verses that the Bible supports SOCIALIST PAGE 26 u

Is God a Socialist?What the Bible says might surprise you. by robert morley

gary

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H ow s a f e is t h e Un i t e d States? Could it be defeated by a foreign nation?

Many would immediately answer “No.” The world’s

top military spender, America accounts for over a third of globa l milita r y expenditure—spending more than the next seven nations combined.

But does big spending buy invinci-bility? America is great at throwing money at problems, from health care to education. The question is, how is that money being spent?

A shocking amount of it is simply wasted. Exactly how much is unknown because the Pentagon has never been audited, but it is at least tens of billions.

steal tens of millions from the U.S. Navy.gdma has supplied husbanding ser-

vices to the 7th Fleet for years. When warships dock, they need fuel, supplies and maintenance; they of ten need towing into dock and have to pay for the parking space. gdma provided these services—at vastly inflated prices. In just five port visits in Thailand by U.S. ships, Francis overbilled the Navy $3 million for fuel alone.

The worst part of the “Fat Leonard scandal,” as it is known, is how Fran-cis evaded detection. He bribed the commander of a destroyer and the deputy logistics officer for the f leet w ith gif ts, money and prostitutes. They passed on classified information on U.S. ship movements. They even rerouted ships to stop at ports where Francis could overcharge the Navy.

Francis bribed a supervisory agent

Howe ver, t he a mou nt of mone y squandered is not the most dangerous part of the story. Instead, it is what this huge waste reveals about the people in charge of America’s security. A study of this waste reveals that a casual reliance on America’s massive defense estab-lishment is dangerously flawed.

‘The System Is Broken’The U.S. 7th Fleet is the most powerful naval group at sea. Its 50 to 70 ships and submarines, 140 aircraft and 20,000 Navy and Marine personnel protect America’s interests in the Pacific.

It was also all but hijacked by one foreign national.

That man is Leonard Glenn Francis, known as “Fat Leonard.” He ran Glenn Defense Marine Asia, and used it to

NOT MUCH BANG FOR THE BUCK

Afghanistan Military Base Coast Guard Cutter For Sale Lot of 16 Cargo Planes (C-27J)

F-35 Jets (Lot of 2,457) New 2013 Submarine (Parts ) Air conditioning Tech needed

Huntington Ingalls 418-foot national

security cutter. When finished, she

will hold a crew of 110. Coast Guard

says it doesn’t need this ship, but

government is currently building it

anyway. Paid $640 million; asking

$640 million, or trade for something

that is useful.

Posted by: United States Coast

Guard

Barely used; only 234 hours of

flight time for the whole fleet (some

have never been used). Currently

mothballed in the Arizona desert.

Would be a steal for any military able

to track down spare parts and to take

on the total operating cost: $308

million each. Our loss is your gain.

Make offer.

Posted by: United States Air Force

Economy-class warplanes in stock,

with more on the way. Modest

performance, some mechanical

issues with radar, electronic warfare,

helmet displays, sensor data, ejection

seat, fuel tank, weapons, etc. Also

working on patching an unintended

“remote disable” feature. $162.8

million each ($400 billion for all).

Posted by: U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff

Economy-class warplanes in stock,

with more on the way. Modest

performance, some mechanical

issues with radar, electronic warfare,

helmet displays, sensor data, ejection

seat, fuel tank, weapons, etc. Also

working on patching an unintended

“remote disable” feature. $162.8 seat,

fuel tank, weapons, etc.

Posted by: U.S. Army

One of the newest subs in our

Virginia-class fleet. Huntington

Ingalls fast attack sub. Some issues

with propulsion system: trying to

fix fake pipe(s) connecting steam

propulsion with nuclear reactor.

Has been mostly in port, so crew

quarters, control room, etc. are all

still in pristine condition. $2.7 billion

Posted by: United States Navy

The U.S. military needs qualified

professionals to service, repair

and install thousands of industrial

air conditioning units across

this southern Asian country. The

contract for keeping our troops

and computers comfortable here is

worth $20 million per year. Contact

us today!Posted by: The Pentagon

BARGAIN

Get away from it all in rustic Helmand

Province at this luxurious 64k sf.

command facility. Brand-new, never

used. Completed after Marines left.

Now belongs to Afghanis (they only

use a couple of rooms). Can sublet

from them, or buy for $1 and assume

the operating costs ($108,000/

month). Posted by: United States Army $640,000,000

$36,000,000

$500,000,000

$1,500,000,000

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$2,700,000,000$20,000,000,000

Government Classifieds

public domain (5)/h padleckas/reese zoellner/trum

pet

at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, who helped thwart any inves-tigations into his dealings.

If Francis had been working for a foreign power, instead of merely for money, this could have been not only a financial disaster but also a deadly tactical one.

Francis was arrested in September 2013, but the scandal’s fallout continues. Both the director of Naval Intelligence and the director of Intelligence Opera-tions have had their access to classified mater ia l suspended. This has lef t America in the farcical situation where the man running the Nav y’s secret operations isn’t trusted to read any secret material. In 2015, three other admirals were censured and retired.

“Managing the command structure at the top of the Navy has become a night-mare since the Justice Department began the investigation,” wrote Mat-thew Gault, cohost of Reuters’ military podcasts. “No one knows who will stay, who will retire, and who will go to jail” (April 13, 2015).

This a f fair is just one of severa l scandals the U.S. military has suffered in the past decade. “For generations the Pentagon has run the world’s might-iest armed forces with inadequate budgetary oversight. The system is broken,” Gault wrote in 2013. “Some-thing needs to change, and it needs to change yesterday. If it doesn’t, the Fat Leonard debacle—with its self-serving commanders, misspent millions and compromised military secrets—could become the norm” (Nov. 18, 2013).

Investigations and lawsuits are ongo-ing regarding Fat Leonard-like cases in the 5th and 6th Fleets (responsible for the Middle East and Europe). In 2013, the U.S. government began investigat-ing three Navy intelligence officers who charged $1.6 million for silencers that should have cost $8,000. Twin sisters reportedly collected $20 million over the course of six years, largely by fraud and abusing the system, through their company, C&D Distributors, which in one case charged half a million dollars to ship three screws to marines in Iraq.

This goes further than a few dodgy individuals: Giants of the U.S. defense establishment are involved. In 2003, an Air Force undersecretary overpaid Boeing for a set of tanker planes. She soon quit her job and went to Boeing, with a six-figure salary. The company

America has the most expensive military in the world. That doesn’t necessarily mean it has the strongest. Here’s why. by richard palmer

had already given jobs to her daughter and her daughter’s fiancé. She pleaded g u i lty to cor r upt ion a nd wa s sen-tenced to nine months in jail. Boeing’s chief financial officer at the time also went to jail.

Beyond the money wasted, what does it mean that the U.S. military’s procurement system is “broken”? What else about the military is “broken”? If “self-serving commanders” could become the norm, how else will Amer-ica be harmed?

‘We’re Going About This All Wrong’The U.S. spent a vast amount of money in Iraq and Afghanistan—the Congres-sional Research Service estimated $1.6 trillion. Time magazine estimated the long-term cost between $4 and $6 tril-lion. In these two countries, America was spending $20 billion a year just on air conditioning. That is larger than Italy’s entire defense budget for 2015.

The fact that Afghanistan is sliding back toward the Taliban and Iran is taking over Iraq raises the overarching question of just what those trillions of dollars purchased. But the figures on just the straight-up waste are also huge. The bipa r tisa n Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan reported in 2011 that “[a]t least $31 billion, and possibly as much as $60 billion, has been lost to contract waste and fraud”—just one narrow type of waste—in Afghanistan and Iraq.

One of the most notorious examples of waste was $36 million spent on a command facility in Afghanistan for 1,500 personnel that was never used. Three generals requested the project to be canceled, saying it was unnecessary, but they were overruled. When investi-gators looked into it, commanders told subordinates to obstruct the inquiry.

There’s plenty of Fat Leonard-style corruption too. Authorities identified $1 million in overpayments for fuel in a two-month period in Afghanistan. In 2014, $45.5 million went missing from salaries meant to be paid to Afghan police.

Besides the money spent directly on the invasion, the U.S. poured $100 bil-lion into reconstructing Afghanistan. That’s more than America spent on the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe after World War ii. Propublica

JULY 2016 15

NOT MUCH BANG FOR THE BUCK

estimated that $17 billion of that was wasted. This includes a base that was never used, roads that quickly fell apart, and payments to nonexistent soldiers. Half a billion dollars went to cargo planes that were hardly used and then scrapped; $8 billion was spent on com-bating the drug trade, with no result.

In Iraq, the U.S. spent $50 billion on reconstruction. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction esti-mated at least $8 billion of it was wasted.

John F. Sopko has worked hard to expose waste of these funds as the Spe-cial Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (sigar). In a speech last September, he talked about schools built with American money that were

“literally crumbling and falling apart” and hospitals that “actually became unsafe because their electrical and water supply systems failed.”

O n e p r o b l e m w a s i n v e s t i n g i n projects that would have been great in A merica but just didn’t work in Afghanistan. The U.S. spent millions on hospitals that were too expensive for the Afghans to keep running. “This sort of thing happens in Afghanistan all the time,” he said.

“You would think after 13 years of these types of occurrences, and hun-dreds of cases of sigar pointing these problems out, that someone would wake up, look around, and say ‘You know what, folks? Maybe we’re going about this all wrong,’” Sopko continued.

He described how he had to work hard to persuade one military official not to build high-tech solar-powered lighting at bus stops. How’s that for a metaphor for Afghanistan: America’s gener a l s wa nt t o bu i ld h i g h-t e ch lighting for bus stops while the Taliban retake the country.

“[A]ll I am seeing is a modus operandi that is woefully out of touch at best, and delusional at worst,” Sopko warned.

“We simply must be smarter.”Again there is a hint of a deeper prob-

lem. If America’s chain of command is “delusional” about money, how effective is its decision-making in other areas?

‘Made-up Numbers’T he D e fe n s e L o g i s t ic s A ge nc y i s responsible for buying supplies and ammunition. The dla was recently

exposed spending $7 billion on things it did not need. “How do you buy $7 billion of stuff you don’t need?” asked Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro (Ret.), who oversees a special task force on logistics for the Pentagon. “If a company did that, they’d be out of business. Even Walmart.”

Punaro said this wastage is common. “It has no sense of value or time,” he said. “No one in the Pentagon is looking for a bargain on most days. It’s a cultural thing. These are people that will ship a pallet of water on a C-17.”

Waste is epidemic in the military’s central bureaucracy. Between 2003 and 2011, for example, it managed to lose track of $6 billion worth of supplies. A 2013 Reuters special report stated,

“Reuters has found that the Pentagon is largely incapable of keeping track of its vast stores of weapons, ammunition and other supplies; thus it continues to spend money on new supplies it doesn’t need and on storing others long out of date. It has amassed a backlog of more than half a trillion dollars in unaudited contracts with outside vendors; how much of that money paid for actual goods and ser v ices delivered isn’t known. And it repeatedly falls prey to fraud and theft that can go undis-covered for years, often eventually detected by external law enforcement agencies” (Nov. 18, 2013).

In a private company, the Depart-ment of Defense method of accounting would be il legal. “Former militar y service officials say record keeping at the operational level throughout the services is rife with made-up numbers to cover lost or missing information,” wrote Reuters.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in May 2011, “My staff and I learned that it was nearly impossible to get accurate information and answers to questions such as ‘How much money did you spend?’ and ‘How many people do you have?’”

In February this year, the Center for International Policy published a report by William D. Hartung outlining more than $33 billion in waste in just 27 instances since President Barack Obama took office.

The report is focused narrowly on waste. It doesn’t include expenses like the $360 million spent on weight-loss


$230,000,000

Have you seen a pile of $230 million worth of spare vehicle parts? Lost somewhere in Afghanistan. If found, please contact the International Security Assistance Force office in Norfolk, Virginia. We are in the process of delivering another $130 million of the same parts and would like to save a few dollars if possible.Posted by NATO

Lost and Found

$1,500,000,000

Contractor neededNeed a renovation/demolition con-tractor to fix or replace buildings that were built in recent years. We spent $1.5 billion on buildings that include insulation that turns out to be a fire hazard. Contact us with your details; offering a generous government contract.Posted by: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Free PrisonIn northern Baghdad? Contact us for a free prison. This $40 million modern detention facility includes cell blocks, offices, educational and vocational training spaces, watch-towers and walls. It needs some finishing touches and retrofitting for concrete that cracks easily, but is almost completely brand-new and unused.Posted by: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Lawyer NeededThe Army knowingly purchased nonfunctional incinerators for $11.5 million. So soldiers just burned refuse in open-air pits. Now soldiers are suing the Army, saying fumes from the pits damaged their lungs. Lawyer needed to defend the Army. Posted by United States Army

$11,500,000

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JULY 2016 17

surger y for ser v icemen’s fa milies, which would hardly seem to enhance the nation’s fighting ability.

Contract KillersThe U.S. military has major problems with the way it pays for weapons. For example, the government will often pay companies to fix their own manu-facturing defects. As the Government Accountability Off ice put it, in one investigation into naval contracts, the Nav y is “essentially rewarding the shipbuilder for delivering a ship that needed additional work.”

David W. Wise wrote on War Is Boring, “The Navy, like the other services, has proven itself incapable of running an effective weapons acquisition program in recent decades. Instead, the services

pay increasingly more money for pro-gressively fewer units that often fail to meet original specifications” (May 27).

In just about every project, costs rise while capabilities decrease. One notori-ous example is the Littoral Combat Ship. It was meant to cost $220 million per ship. The first cost triple that. The ships have almost universally bad reviews. They are lightly armored and lose to Chi-nese ships in just about every simulation.

Meanwhile, other firms are building useless weapons. For example, the A rmy spends around $200 million a year on M1 Abrams tanks that it doesn’t need and that go straight into storage. Why? The tank factory is in the district of the chairman of a key congressional subcommittee.

This isn’t an isolated example. Last

December, the New York Times wrote that “[ l]anguage inser ted into the federal budget … directed the Coast Guard to build a $640 million national security cutter in Mississippi that the Coast Guard says it does not need” (Dec. 20, 2015). “I guess that is how it goes,” a spokesman for the Coast Guard said.

“But we are good [without it].”O ne s en at or w a nt e d t he c utt er

built in his state. In the same budget, another senator pushed for the Navy to be given $1 billion for a destroyer it didn’t ask for because the vessel was likely to be built in her state.

Worse, there is strong evidence that America’s weapons are designed primar-ily to be job creators, not war winners.

Franklin C. Spinney is famed for his criticism of U.S. defense procurement. In an essay written back in 1990, he forecast, “The power politics practiced by the Pentagon and Congress con-tinue to drag our nation deeper into a quagmire of spiraling weapons costs, shrinking forces, and high defense budgets.” Now that his predictions have come to pass, it’s clear he is worth listening to.

Spinney warned that “the needs of a coherent defense policy have been preempt ed by t he sel f i sh desi res of its individual components.” This selfishness is at the heart of his critique. The Pentagon and defense companies engage in what he ca l ls “pol itica l engineering.” “Political engineering is the strategy of spreading dollars, jobs and profits to as many important congressional districts as possible,” he wrote. “By designing overly complex weapons, then spreading subcontracts, jobs and profits all over the country, the political engineers in the Defense Depa r tment del iberately mag n i f y the power of these forces to punish Congress should it subsequently try to reduce defense spending by terminating major procurement programs.”

This seems to explain the problems with the F-35 fighter jet. With a price tag around $1.5 trillion, it is the most expensive weapons system in history. It is also the future of U.S. airpower: If all goes to plan, the majority of the U.S. military’s planes will be F-35s. Yet the F-35 is commonly criticized for being

BANG FOR BUCK PAGE 32 u

I t emerged on March 29 that the uss Minnesota nuclear attack submarine is stuck in port as workers try to make it seaworthy. The $2.7 billion vessel is only three years old.

When the Minnesota was delivered in 2013, it was hailed as a great success for military procurement since it was delivered almost one year ahead of schedule. But it was delivered with known manufacturing defects.

According to the Navy Times, some of the Minnesota’s vital engine components were not manufactured and installed to specification. Evidence has emerged that manufacturers used fraudulent welding and other counterfeit additions to pass inspection. A $10,000 pipe failed examination, and it was discovered that the pipe had been fraudulently fabricated to appear sound.

Discovery of this defective pipe prompted investigation into other parts delivered by the U.S.-based contractor. Two subsequently constructed multibillion-dollar subs were also discovered to have the same defective pipes installed.

After investing more than $6 billion, the U.S. Navy has three new nuclear sub-marines that pose a known risk to their crews if deployed.

U.S. submarines form a third of the military’s nuclear triad and are essential for deterrence and war-fighting capability. The revelation of these fraudulent practices has frustrated and demoralized many service personnel. Had they gone undiscovered, sailors’ lives and national security would have been at grave risk.

$6 Billion for Faulty Submarines

STUCK IN PORT The USS Minnesota undergoes constuction in Virginia.

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CHINA’S CHOKE HOLD

KEY STRAIT

The People’s Republic of China has created almost 3,000 acres of new land by piling sand atop submerged reefs in the Paracel and Spratly Islands. These man-made islands are altering the strategic balance in the South China Sea. By militarizing these islands, China is effectively creating a new strategic sea gate. Each year, $5.3 trillion of trade passes through the South China Sea. According to estimates by U.S. Navy Adm. Robert Willard, nearly $1.2 trillion of this trade is linked to the United States. Beijing’s control over these vital sea-lanes will dramatically affect trade around the world.

ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST IMPORTANT SEA GATESThe Strait of Malacca is the world’s second-busiest commercial shipping lane. An average of 200 ships pass through daily. According to United Nations estimates, almost half of the world’s annual seaborne trade tonnage passed through the Strait of Malacca and the nearby straits of Sunda and Lombok in 2010.

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CHINESE-OCCUPIED ISL ANDS

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1 • Find a preexisting reef crest, coral structure or other sub-surface mass.

2 • Bring in dredging barges to pull up sand and rock from the surrounding sea floor.

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4 • Optional: Install air strip and 100-km-range HQ-9 missile system to convert island into military base.

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HONG KONG Great Britain obtained a 99-year lease of Lantau Island and adjacent northern lands in 1898. Despite a Communist coup in 1949, the UK still gave this sea gate back to Beijing in 1997.

SUBIC BAY Along with Clark Air Base, Subic Bay Naval Base once formed the largest overseas military installation of the U.S. Armed Forces. That presence has been drastically reduced, and China is claiming the South China Sea as its own.

SINGAPORE Called the “Gibraltar of the East” by Winston Churchill, Sembawang Naval Base in Singapore was vital to Britain’s defense of East Asia in World War II. The British gave up this sea gate in 1965 when Singapore declared independence.

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Mediterranean Battle Escalating Into World War III!German advances in the Mediterranean echo Berlin’s World War II vision for Africa. by gerald flurry

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B A T T L E F O R T H E M E D I T E R R A N E A N

In the heat of World War ii—Feb. 12, 1941— German Gen. Erwin Rommel arrived in Libya on the Mediterranean coast to lead the Axis advance across North Africa. Germany’s ally,

Italy, had been trying for a year to con-quer the territory up to the Suez Canal but had been defeated handily by Allied forces. Now, Hitler turned to Rommel.

In blitzkrieg fashion, Rommel’s Ger-man Africa Corps sped eastward across the desert. They reached the Egyptian border in two months. The German high command actually worried that Rommel was moving too fast. It sent a delegation to check Rommel’s advance and take stock of his supply levels. The report back to Berlin indicated that

Rommel was in danger of shortages of ammunition and fuel.

The British intercepted this cable, and Winston Churchill then ordered an immediate attack on Rommel’s forces. Rommel, the “desert fox,” was ready for the attack and responded aggressively. For the next year and a half, the battle for North Africa raged. It was only through superior numbers and new material from the Americans that Rommel’s Africa Corps was sent into full retreat in mid-November 1942.

Many historians realize that had Churchill not been able to halt Rom-mel’s advance to control the Suez Canal, the enti re Med iter ra nea n theater would have been lost to the Nazis and could have changed the outcome of the

war! Germany needed to dominate the Mediterranean in order to win. Since the A llies were able to control the Mediterranean and eventually drive Rommel out of Africa, the tide of the entire war changed in 1942.

Now, 70 years later, times are differ-ent. Instead of the World War ii Allied powers being in control, North Africa and the land around the Red Sea are governed by unstable dictatorships and radical Islamic terrorist groups that seek to bring the fight to Europe!

But this time around, Germany has learned its lesson.

It will not allow Europe’s soft under-belly to be controlled by its enemy. For this reason, Germany is moving once again to conquer the Mediterranean.

M E D I T E R R A N E A N S E A

JULY 2016 21

B A T T L E F O R T H E M E D I T E R R A N E A N

IRAN IS TRYING TO GAIN CONTROL OF THE MEDITERRANEAN.

PROPHECY SHOWS IRAN WILL GAIN POWER OVER EGYPT. THIS WILL GIVE IT CONTROL OF THE SUEZ CANAL.

IRAN NEEDS TO CONTROL YEMEN SO

IT CAN DOMINATE THE RED SEA.

IRAN IS ALREADY

INFLUENCING SOMALIA.

Radical Islam’s PushGermany isn’t the only rising power that understands the strategic value of the Mediterranean Sea. The forces of radical Islam, headed by the regime in Iran, have a design to dominate the

sea-lane as well.I f irst wrote about

t h i s i n 2 0 1 1 . S i n c e t h at t i m e , w e h a v e seen a wave of radical Islam spread across North Africa, toppling governments in Libya, E g y p t a n d Ye m e n .

These jihadists want to take down and destroy the West.

Astute observers in Europe, especially Germany, see what is happening in North Africa. This is motivating Euro-pean leaders to accelerate their own strategy to counter the Islamist tide.

This exact scenario was prophesied 2,500 years ago in the biblical book of Daniel!

As I wrote in 2011, Daniel 11:40-43 unlock the strategy of the radical Mus-lims headed by Iran, referred to here as

“the king of the south.” (For proof of the prophetic identity of this power, request our free booklet The King of the South.)

These scriptures describe the time just ahead of us. Notice it: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over” (verse 40).

This verse shows a pushy foreign policy from the south being countered and d e s t r o y e d b y a f a r superior power from t h e n o r t h . B ut p ay close attention to the v e r s e s t h at fo l lo w : T h e y i n d i c a t e t h e specific nations that will be part of this Iranian-led Islamic bloc and be conquered by the king of the north.

“He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape” (verse 42). As we have said for 20 years, this indicates that Egypt

will join in an alliance with Iran. But notice who else will be in that alliance.

“But he [the king of the north] shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.” “At his steps” means they will join his army or be under his authority. Why would Libya and Ethiopia be subjugated like this by the king of the north? They too were allied with the king of the south.

But why would Iran want an alliance with Libya and Ethiopia?

All you need to do is get a good map of the Middle East with the emphasis on the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and then you can see why. These two countries border the two seas that

comprise the most important tr ade route in the world.

I r a n a l r e a d y d o m i n a t e s t h e Persian Gulf. Now it is working to take over the Red Sea—you can see this by how involved it is in Yemen. Iran also has a heav y inf luence

in Somalia. It has had a long-standing relationship with Sudan, and prophecy tells us it will gain control of Ethiopia and Egypt. Egypt controls the Suez Canal, which is the gateway to the Med-iterranean Sea.

Putting this together, you can see that Iran seeks to control the greatest trade route in the world!

T h is is lead i ng to a major cla sh between the king of the south and the king of the north.

An Accelerated TimetableDiscussing Iran’s moves to take over Yemen, notice what Michael Segall wrote for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs: “If the Shia rebels gain control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Iran can attain a foothold in this sensitive region, giving access to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, a cause of concern not only for its sworn rivals Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Gulf states, but also for Israel and European countries along the Mediterranean. Arab

commentators in the Gulf have warned in recent years about this Iranian push” (Nov. 3, 2014; emphasis mine throughout). He actually used the same terminology that the Prophet Daniel used.

I think there are visionaries in Europe who see the beginning of this prophecy about Ethiopia, Libya and Egypt allying with or falling to radical Islam. Using a little imagination, they realize that Iran could gain control of these unstable nations. If that happened, it would be a real problem for Europe, because Iran could block European trade through the Suez Canal at will!

W h i l e t h e w o r l d i s mostly blind to it, some in Europe are waking up to Iran’s plan to capture the Mediterranean. The Euro-peans see the king of the south pushing through this policy! It is creating a sense of urgency in them to counter this push.

Aga in, man y Germans feel the reason they lost World War ii was that they didn’t have control of that sea. And since the early 1990s, a German-led Europe has been slowly working to ensure that won’t hap-pen again.

The current push by the radical Isla-mist camp across North Africa has accel-erated Germany’s timetable for its own plans to dominate the Mediterranean.

Already, Germany has positioned itself to take over the region far more effec-tively than it did in World War ii. And this time, it won’t be seen as the aggressor.

Access to the AdriaticGermany’s renewed drive to control the Mediterranean was first visible when Berlin recognized the breakaway Yugo-slav republics of Croatia and Slovenia in the early 1990s.

These two nations were Germany’s old World War ii allies. Germany fought to promote their independence in order to gain access to the Adriatic Sea, which leads into the Mediterranean. Virtually the whole world was against the breakup of Yugoslavia, but most eventually gave in when Germany and the Vatican refused to budge.


The New York Times reported at the time, “The Security Council backed away from a confrontation with Ger-many over Yugoslavia today after Ger-many’s European allies on the council decided that they did not want a major clash with Bonn”—West Ger-many’s capital at the time (Dec. 16, 1991). The UN backed down because it didn’t want to oppose Germany!

The Times article continued, “The inci-dent underscored Germany’s growing political power in the 12-nation European Community, diplomats said. Some added that it marked the single-most visible demonstration of that power since reunification of the two Germanys more than a year ago [in 1990].”

G er m a ny ’s “si n g le -mos t v i sible demonstration of that power” had everything to do with its strategy to control the Mediterranean.

“Moreover, in its unusual assertive-ness in moving ahead with a plan to extend diplomatic recognition t o t h e b r e a k a w a y Yugoslav republics of Croatia and Slovenia, Germany has stirred troubling historical a s s o c i at ion s ,” t h e a r t i c l e c o n t i n u e d .

“Nazi Germany domi-nated the two Yugoslav regions during World War ii, absorbing Slovenia into the Third Reich and creating a puppet regime in Croatia.”

Look at any map and you can see the strategic value of these two nations. The Adriatic Sea is an arm of the Med-iterranean extending north to Croatia. However, it seems only Germany fully realizes the significance of these areas. The Germans are willing to fight the

whole world to gain control of them. And nobody has asked why these areas are so important to Germany!

Malta and CyprusDuring World War ii, one obstacle to Rommel’s advancement across North Africa was the Allied base on the island of Malta, between Italy and Tunisia. German forces tried extremely hard to take the island. Historian Andrew Rob-erts wrote that it was “the most heavily bombed place on Earth” during Ger-many’s Africa campaign. Yet Germany never succeeded. So Malta remained a valuable depot for supplying Allied forces in fighting Rommel.

Europe has ensured that scenario doesn’t repeat itself the next time.

Back in March 2000, former EU Com-mission President Romano Prodi was in Malta for a conference discussing Malta’s future entry into the Union. He stated, “Malta is the southern pillar of Europe …. I want to see Malta in the EU.” At the same conference, Gunter Ver-heugen, then European commissioner for enlargement, said that if Malta

joined the EU it would “become a gateway. … Fo r Eu r op e , M a lt a has been described as a springboard to t h e w h o l e M e d i -terr anean region, and especially to the African and Middle Eastern shores.”

I n 2 0 0 4 , M a l t a became a member of the EU.

Again, looking at a map, it is easy to see why the European Union wanted the tiny island of Malta to be a member. It was a strategic move that gave the EU a permanent presence right in the

middle of the Medi-terranean Sea.

Malta wasn’t the o n l y c o u n t r y t o join the EU in 2004. O n t h e s a m e da y, C y p r us —a no t h e r im p orta n t isl a n d state, this time in the e astern Medi-t e r r a n e a n —a l s o

G E R M A N A N T I S U B M A R I N E F R I G A T E S

GERMANY IS VYING FOR CONTROL OF THE MEDITERRANEAN.

D U R I N G W O R L D W A R I I M A L T A W A S “ T H E M O S T H E A V I L Y B O M B E D P L A C E O N E A R T H . ”

SLOVENIA AND CROATIA GIVE GERMANY ACCESS TO THE MEDITERRANEAN VIA THE ADRIATIC SEA.

GERMANY NEEDS MALTA AND CYPRUS AS

LAUNCHING PADS TO ATTACK THE

KING OF THE SOUTH.

joined. Again, this was done for purely strategic reasons.

W h e n G e r m a ny le d t he Un it e d Nations Interim Task Force in Lebanon, its ships were based out of Cy prus. Even now, Germany regularly has ships patrolling Leb-anon’s coast, and they use Cy prus as a base. A s Strat for w rote on June 28, 2012, “Cyprus’s loc at ion m a kes it a n essentia l pa r t of a ny security dynamic in the region.” Indeed it does!

It’s all about controlling the Mediterranean Sea. Cyprus has his-torically been a launching pad for armies into the Middle East. And it will be so again!

Confrontation Over LibyaSince d ictator Mua m ma r Qad ha f i was ousted by a Western bombing campaign in 2011, the northern African nation of Libya has been taken over by dueling militant factions and jihadist fighters. When Qadhafi was removed, I warned that what would take his place would be thousands of times worse.

Look at what has happened since! The resulting chaos has provoked hun-dreds of thousands of refugees to get on boats and head to Malta and southern Italy. Over 170,000 migrants landed in Italy in 2014! In 2015, the number of immigrants moving into Europe from Syria surpassed those from Libya. But now that the path to Europe through Turkey has been virtually closed, Euro-peans are once again seeing refugees move through Libya. Italian officials fear that as many as 270,000 migrants will try to get to Italy this year.

This is a major problem for Europe. The EU knows it needs to act! The situation in Libya is a good pretext for the Europeans to move down to secure this area so critical to controlling the Mediterranean.

Earlier this year, the United Nations Security Council backed a national unity government in Libya called the

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ON PATROL German antisubmarine frigates join French vessels during a multinational exercise.

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serve that purpose.R o d e r i c h K i e -

sewetter, president of t he a s s o c i at ion of the Bundeswehr reser v i st s a nd for-eign-policy expert for C h a ncel lor A n gel a Merkel’s Ch r istia n Demo cr at ic Un ion , s t at e d f i r m ly t h at

“the Bundeswehr will send more than 1,200 soldiers in the anti-[Islamic State] fight.” nato will have to send ground troops into Libya, he explained, noting that “the German Air Force, Navy and German police off icers can help to stabilize Jordan, Lebanon and Libya.” Already Germany has a strong presence in Mali, which many military leaders see as a launching pad for Libya.

The European Union and its West-ern allies have created a situation where German troops will once again set foot in Libya.

Once those troops get there, radical Islam will be there to confront them. Already, the Libyan Grand Mufti Sadiq al-Gheriani has called for “jihad against the gna.” Also, UN experts reported in March that the Islamic State “has been spreading a nationalistic narrative, portraying itself as the most important bulwark against foreign intervention,” reported Reuters (March 10).

P rov id i ng t he per fec t cover for G er m a n a mbit ion , t he Eu r op e a n peacekeeping force will help Germany move closer to realizing Rommel’s goal of complete dominance of the Mediterranean!

It will also set up the titanic clash of Daniel 11:40. However, the clash with the king of the south will not end with Libya. As the prophecies in Daniel reveal, more nations will fall in the whirlwind cre-ated by this king of the north.

The Mediterranean DreamMay 12, 1943, marked the end of Axis resistance in North Africa. Encyclopedia Britannica says, “The British and United States forces got possession of the whole North African coast, and the threat to Egypt and the Suez Canal was ended, and the Italian dream of a great African

D U R I N G W O R L D W A R I I M A L T A W A S “ T H E M O S T H E A V I L Y B O M B E D P L A C E O N E A R T H . ”

GERMANY IS TRAINING

LIBYAN SOLDIERS IN

TUNISIA.

Government of National Accord (gna). German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen told Bild magazine that such a unity government will “quickly need help to establish justice and order in this huge state and at the same time fight against Islamic terror” (January 18). She also said, “Germany will not be able to duck its responsibility to make a contribution”—hinting of deploying German troops as part of a European military force.

Soon after, there were reports of a European mission to train Libyan sol-diers in Tunisia. But Germany’s Left party’s foreign-policy spokesman Jan van Aken said that the plans for Libya “go way beyond training Libyan soldiers.”

H o w e v e r, m a n y L i b y a n s h a v e rejected the gna; they feel it has been forced upon them by the West. Indeed, in mid-March the EU began to sanction Libyans who would not accept the gna.

Still, with a Western-backed unity government hav ing made it to the Libyan capital of Tripoli, will we begin to see Euro-peans once again land on the shores of Libya?

Already, German ships are just outside Libyan w at er s i mplement i n g Operation Sophia, a three-phased European plan to stop people smuggling out of Libya. So far 83 smuggler boats have been destroyed or impounded when found outside Libyan territorial waters on the way to Italy or Malta.

However, that is just phase one of the plan. According to a classified report obtained by Wikileaks earlier this year, Operation Sophia’s last two phases will see EU military operations inside Libyan territorial waters—and then, finally, European boots on the ground in Libya.

The classified document also urges EU authorities to speed up the process of forming a “reliable” government in Libya, which would be expected to give permission to extend the EU mil-itary operations onshore. Maybe the gna—a virtual creation of the EU and the international community—will

empire had proved a costly failure.”Italy and Germany had a dream of

a great African empire and world empire. Their advance toward the Nile was part of it. Though most might not even think about it, Germany and man y Europeans still have that dream today!

However, this time there will be no Allied victory in El Alamein to push back the German advance. Instead, Germany will be able to conquer all of North Africa and the Middle East, eventually making its way to Jerusalem (e.g. Daniel 8:9).

Watch the Mediterranean! Bible prophecy shows that it will be a major staging ground for battles that will escalate into world war!

However, prophecy also shows that this is ultimately very good news. As other passages in Daniel tell us, Germa-ny’s dominance of the Middle East will end just as quickly as it began. This king of the north is destined to fall—because he will dare to fight Jesus Christ Him-self! “[A]nd he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand” (Daniel 8:25).

With the armies of man defeated, Jesus Christ will reign supreme, ensuring that no man-made dreams of dominance will again threaten the peace of the Earth! n

What will trigger World War III?

Who will fight and who will win?

Request Gerald Flurry’s free booklet The King of the South to get tomorrow’s news today!

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CLEAN-UP Service personnel and civilians clear debris in Valletta, Malta, in May 1941.


He believed he was the descendant of Achilles. This prompted him to study everything he could about the mytholog-ical demigod, his supposed ancestor. In his adult years, Alexander even carried a copy of Homer’s Iliad, which chronicles Achilles’s conquests. He slept with the book under his pillow every night, and he carried it with him into every battle.

Another important detail of Alexan-der’s upbringing is that he was person-ally taught by the famous Aristotle. And among the subjects Aristotle taught him was the Hebrew language.

Campaigns of ConquestIn 336, Philip ii was assassinated. Alex-ander ascended the throne of Macedo-nia at the age of 20 and took command of the massive army his father had spent his life assembling and training.

A l most i m med iately, A lex a nder embarked on the great military crusade that his father had spent years preparing for: the conquest of the Persian Empire.

For several generations before Alex-ander, the Persians had dominated much of the known world—including some Greek cities. Many in Greece and Macedonia felt that it threatened the very existence of the Greek way of life.

After entering Asia Minor, Alexander f irst conquered the city of Baalbek, which he renamed Heliopolis. He then liberated Ephesus from Persian rule and defeated the Persian army’s main force at the Battle of Issus. Next he sacked the cities of Sidon and Aleppo, besieged Tyre and razed Gaza to the ground.

At 2 4 yea r s old , A le x a nder w a s undefeated. His notional invincibility

appeared to prove that his mother had always been right: Divine blood was coursing through his veins.

Around this time, Alexander set his sights on the city of Jerusalem.

Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived in the first century a.d., said that when Alexander was just about to enter Jerusalem, the Jewish high priest at that time, Jaddua, met him on the outskirts of the city. Jaddua led a procession of afflu-ent residents of Jerusalem. They hoped to convince Alexander not to make Jeru-salem the next city he destroyed. The sight gave Alexander pause. Josephus records that Alexander had had a dream of this high priest and took this as a sign from God. He entered the city peacefully.

Once inside, Jaddua brought Alex-ander to the temple and showed him passages from the book of Daniel.

‘This Ancient Prophecy Is About You!’About 180 years before Alexander was born, the Prophet Daniel wrote his book, canonized in the Bible. Daniel 10:1 states that he wrote it in the third year of the reign of Cyrus the Great, which historians agree was around 535 b.c.

Jaddua would have showed Alexander such passages as Daniel 11:2-3, describ-ing the Persian Empire pushing against Greece and eventually being conquered by a powerful Greek ruler: “Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.”

T he civilization-altering life of Alexander the Great is well known to most stu-dents of history. But there is one chapter of his saga

that is as seldom discussed as it is fasci-nating: Alexander’s reign was predicted in the Old Testament long before he was born, and when he visited Jerusalem, the high priest showed him those Bible prophecies about his reign.

I f you’re not f a m i l ia r w it h t h i s intriguing chapter of history, you may be astounded to learn how Alexander reacted to being told that those scrip-tures were written about him.

An Unusual UpbringingAlexander was born in 356 b.c. in the city of Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia. His parents were Philip ii and Olympias of Epirus. From his father, Alexander learned the art and science of warfare, but historians agree that his mother was far more inf luential in his life. From her, Alex-ander inherited a profound love for learning, and also a fiery, sometimes ruthless nature.

During his early years, Alexander’s mother constantly told him that he was part god. Her family had long claimed to be descendants of Achilles the demi-god. At one point she even told him that his true father was Zeus—the king of the Greek gods.

O f cou rse, Ach i l les wa s a my t h, Zeus was fiction, and Alexander was a mor t a l m a n l i ke a ny ot her. But nonetheless, these teachings affected young Alexander.

Alexander the GreatWas Prophesiedin the Bible—

and He Knew It!

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by jeremiah jacques

JULY 2016 25

Jaddua also likely showed Alexander the passages in Daniel 8 that give more details about this “mighty king” of Greece who would defeat the Persians. These passages truly are about Alex-ander the Great, and they were written around 200 years before his reign began!

You can imagine Alexander standing in the temple next to the priest. You can imagine him being shown an ancient scroll of Daniel’s words. Thanks to the education he had received from Aris-totle, he could read the Hebrew Daniel had written. He needed no translation.

He had also been told by his mother his whole life that he was no ordinary man, but someone of div ine blood and origin. This passage in Daniel, of course, did not say he was divine in any way. But Jaddua would have explained to Alexander that the book had the true God’s fingerprints all over it.

We can only speculate about what Alexander thought after reading for himself the words of God recorded by Daniel. But it may be that his mother’s words made him more open to believ-ing that these ancient, holy Scriptures were about him. Or maybe he was just compelled by the clear language about a

“mighty king” from Greece overthrow-ing the Persian Empire—especially since he had already made such stun-ning progress toward that end before his visit to Jerusalem.

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Whatever the reasoning, Alexander the Great believed that he himself was the man being discussed in these passages. He believed that it was a true prophecy, and that he was in the process of fulfilling it!

Josephus wrote about Alexander’s reaction to Jaddua in Antiquities of the Jews: “And when the book of Daniel w a s s ho w e d h i m w he r e i n D a n ie l declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended. And as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the pres-ent; but the next day he called them to him, and bid them ask what favors they pleased of him; whereupon the high priest desired that they might enjoy the laws of their forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the seventh year. He granted all they desired. And when they entreated him that he would per-mit the Jews in Babylon and Media to enjoy their own laws also, he willingly promised to do hereafter what they desired” (Book 11, Chap. 8, Sec. 5; Wil-liam Whiston translation, 1981).

(Hecataeus of Abdera, a contempo-rary of Alexander, is also said to have written about Alexander’s visit to Jeru-salem, but his writings on the topic did not survive into the modern era.)

A l e x a n d e r h a d p i l l a g e d a n d plundered many cities, often renaming

them and requiring them to adopt the Greco-Macedonian culture. But not so for the city of Jerusalem. Alexander not only believed the prophecies in Daniel were about himself, but because of that belief, he granted great favor to the Jews. He allowed them to keep their own laws and culture, and gave them a massive break from paying tribute.

This glimpse back into a seldom-dis-cussed chapter of Alexander’s life shows how prophecy and history intersected in a dramatic way. It also adds a layer of authenticity to the biblical record.

Many scholars have tried to discredit Daniel’s writings because if he wrote his book when he said he did in the sixth century b.c., then the Bible would have to have been divinely inspired. The scholars who reject this argue that the book of Daniel was written after Alexander died. But Josephus was a meticulous and well-respected histo-rian, thorough in his efforts to separate fiction from fact, and to only record the latter. His detailed record of Alexander reading the prophecies about himself by Daniel adds powerful support to the sixth century date Daniel gave to his book. It shows that, as Daniel wrote,

“[T]here is a God i n heaven that revealeth s e c r e t s ”— a n d c a n bring them to pass! n

Alexander is only one of the kings the Bible foretold.Request our free booklet History and Prophecy of the Middle East to see what else the Bible accurately prophesied.

THE EMPIRE OF ALEXANDER THE GREATITALY

EGYPT

BABYLONIAPERSIA

BACTRIAMEDIA

MESOPOTAMIA

ARABIA

INDIA

HIMALAYA

Arabian Seav

Jerusalem

Black Sea

Caspian Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Alexander’s path of Conquest

Persian Gulf

Red Sea

GEDROSIA

GANDHARAARMENIA

CAPPADOCIA

MACEDONIA


u SOCIALIST FROM PAGE 13or she can afford to give, and, in many cases, whether he or she will give at all! God allows free choice. In fact, free will is essential to true Christianity.

Had God wanted to create robots that flawlessly keep His law, He could have. If He wanted to use the overwhelming force of government to impose His will on people, He could have. But God is concerned about people developing character, a nd t h i s on ly happen s through free choice.

Perhaps the single most commonly cited “proof” that socialism is biblical is the claim that the early New Testament Church was socialistic or even commu-nistic. Acts 2:44-45 read, “The believers all kept together; they shared all they had with one another, they would sell their possessions and goods and distrib-ute the proceeds among all, as anyone might be in need” (Moffatt translation). The phrase “they shared all they had” or “had all things common,” as it reads in the King James Version, supposedly proves that these people sold all their earthly possessions and put the money into one pot, and everyone took what they needed. But consider what this verse actually says and what was actu-ally happening in Jerusalem at that time.

The preceding verses in Acts show that the time setting is the annual festival of Pentecost. On this day, thou-sands of Jews from all over the world were gathered in Jerusalem. This was an exciting event, the start of the New Testament Church. It was the day the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples. Three thousand people were baptized and converted that day.

Most of these Christians were Jews who lived in places scattered all over Judea and Asia. In their excitement of f inding God’s truth, conversing with God’s apostles and people of like mind, many remained in Jerusalem longer than they had planned and ran short of food and money. As Herbert W. Armstrong explained, “Consequently,

of necessity, they formed a sort of community for the time being only. And, whenever some in poorer cir-cumstances had need because of these unexpected conditions, others in better circumstances would from time to time sell part of their goods or land and share with the less fortunate” (Plain Truth, January-February 1949).

These people were not socialists or Communists. But they were generous, giving and compassionate! Many of the local Church members sold their prop-

erty as needed to help fellow brothers meet their expenses in Jer usa lem during this exciting time in Church history and to help those who had been ostracized and cut off from the syna-gogues and their means of employment by the Jews of the day (John 9:22; 12:42).

These Church members who gener-ously stepped in to fulfill a need were able to do it because they were wealthy property owners. “They did not all sell everything they owned at once, but they sold property only when, or ‘as anyone might be in need.’ … But an absolute community of goods never was practiced by the Church at Jerusalem or any other Christian church” (ibid).

The Fenton translation says, “[N]o one who possessed property claimed it as exclusively his own: but it was for the use of all. … For some who were possessors of lands and houses sold them; and bring-ing the price of the sales, and presenting the same at the feet of the apostles, a distribution was made to each according to his need” (Acts 4:32, 35).

Not all sold their property. Only some of the property owners sold their possessions. “This selling of property was wholly voluntary,” wrote Mr. Arm-strong. Later on, the Apostle Peter said to Ananias, “was the money not yours to do as you pleased about it?” (Acts 5:4; Moffatt). Some of the members had more assets than others from their occupations. “Here was private enter-prise and private initiative and private ownership,” noted Mr. Armstrong.

So in reality, the account in Acts 2 actually proves that the Church did not practice socialism, which is a the-ory that advocates that the means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned or regulated by the government or community as a whole.

The last major argument claiming that the Bible advocates socialism usu-ally revolves around tithing.

The Bible described three types of tithes in ancient Israel. The first tithe (10 percent of a person’s increase) was paid to God and used by the priests and Levites. After the founding of the New Testament Church, this tithe was used by the Church for proclaiming the gospel (Hebrews 7). The second tithe was to be saved and kept by individuals so they would have money to attend the Feast of Tabernacles.

But the Bible also talks about a third tithe, and this third tithe does play an important role as a welfare program!

But consider how different God’s welfare system is compared to socialist welfare.

God’s Welfare SystemFirst, this tithe—10 percent of any increase—was collected twice in a seven-year cycle, in the third and sixth years. This works out to less than 4 percent of a person’s yearly income, and less than 4 percent of the national income—a tiny fraction of what is spent on bloated welfare programs today. It was also an unchangeable, set percent-age and was not subject to the whims of government bureaucrats arbitrarily deciding who should pay a nd how much their “fair share” should be. The wealthy paid the same percentage as the less advantaged.

More importantly, notice what the money was spent on. “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied …” (Deuteronomy 14:28-29; New King James Version).

Third tithe is not for the poor! It is for specific individuals who could not pro-vide for themselves because of specific

Generosity and sharing with those in need are biblical commands. Yet it is up to the giver to decide to give and how much.

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circumstances. This “welfare” was for the Levites, because they did not own any land; for foreigners who tempo-rarily needed aid while in the nation; for the fatherless, who were too young to provide for themselves and did not have family to take care of them; and for widows who likewise were too old to work or had no family to support them.

The third tithe was not given to able-bodied men and women who were capable of working. For able-bodied people, God’s welfare system is—work. How different from modern social welfare programs!

In fact, the Bible is clear that people should be rewarded by what they con-tribute to society.

Rewarding IncreaseIn the parable of the talents, for exam-ple, the unfaithful servant who did not add to the money he was given had his talent taken away from him, and it was given to the servant who had gained the most. The ruler did not say, You are poor, so you may keep the money you failed to put to good use. This poor servant had the least money of all. Wouldn’t letting him keep some have been the morally compassionate thing to do? At the very least, wouldn’t it have been fairer to give his talent to the servant who had only four talents? (Matthew 25:14-30). In this biblical instance, wealth was actually redistributed to the wealthier servant.

The Bible is specific about what God expects of able-bodied members of soci-ety. In 2 Thessalonians 3:10, Paul said,

“If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (nkjv). This was a principle he took seriously. Paul commanded people to follow his example in how he worked Sunday through Friday to earn a living (as a tentmaker, Acts 18:1-4). In 1 Corin-thians 9, Paul describes how he did not take tithes from the brethren to live on even though it was within his right, and instead worked to support himself so as not to put any spiritual stumbling blocks in front of new converts.

The Bible is filled with many such admonitions to work and provide for your family. “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8).

Yet God understood that even with

hard work, people sometimes make bad decisions; in addition, as King Solomon said, “time and chance hap-peneth to them all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Circumstances do bring people to pov-erty sometimes. Consider some other economic principles God outlined in order to address this fact of life.

God instructed that arable land be divided up among families and, if sold, returned to the original family at the end of 50 years (Leviticus 25). Think of how far this would go to reduce gener-ational poverty. No government-sanc-tioned theft (wealth redistribution) here. Just transactions governed by clearly understood law.

Every seventh year, all consumer debts are to be abolished (Deuteron-omy 15:1-2). Today, debt is one of the primar y causes of bankruptcy and entrenched poverty.

In God’s system, all loans are to be non-interest bearing (Leviticus 25:36-37). Lending is a voluntary action to help people, and is to be done know-ing that God promises to bless that action. No longer can people get rich due to others’ debt servitude.

Ungleaned fields are left for the poor (Leviticus 19:10). Wealthy people are not to harvest every last bit of their crops—and poor people are required to work to collect their food.

A Better WayThink about how these laws, including the third tithe, would work to naturally keep the more vile tendencies of human nature in check and at the same time preserve private incentive. No need for government-enforced wealth redistribu-tion. No need for bureaucrats to decide how much wealth is one’s “fair share.”

But e ve n a s t he Bible d o e s not advocate socialism, it does not advocate the type of crony capitalism practiced by America today either. In fact, it explicitly condemns it.

1 Timothy 5:18 says, “The labourer is worthy of his reward.” How many

of today’s social problems result from employers trying to exploit their work-ers? Although unions today do not work for the interest of their members as much as they do for the best interests of union leaders and politicians, the exis-tence of unions arose from gluttonous business leaders in the past imposing excessively poor working conditions.

Looking at America today, far too often you see selfish, greedy men of excessive vanity, ambitious in their lust for power, scheming to get their hands on the throttle of power for personal aggrandizement and monetary gain. Such greedy businessmen actually want the government involved in the economy—to write advantages for them into law. You find graft, immorality, deception and dishonesty running rampant in virtually all high places, including the halls of government.

No wonder so many people are look-ing at a radical new economic system.

But here is the key. These evils are common to all systems—Communist, socialist or capitalist.

Evils are endemic to all economic systems because human nature is evil.

Those people hoping socialism will solve economic ills will be sadly disappointed.

Economic breakdown is a result of moral breakdown—the Bible is clear on that! Only by turning to the God of the Bible and by obeying His laws will nations and people truly begin to prosper again. n

True, the Bible does not advocate the crony capitalism practiced by America today. In fact, it explicitly condemns it.

There is hope for the world’s poor! A new world economy is coming. It will be neither a socialist nor a capitalist paradise, but an economy that will produce true, lasting and equitable prosperity. Your Bible describes this coming utopia. Learn more about it in our free booklet The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like by Herbert W. Armstrong.


WORLDWATCH

D uring Austria’s presidential elections on April 24, its two

dominant mainstream parties plunged into fourth and fifth place. Since World War II, every Austrian president has come from either the Social Demo-crats (SPO) or the People’s Party (OVP), until now. The upheaval has already brought down Austria’s chancellor and could propel a far-right candidate into the presidency.

Six years ago, the SPO and OVP won a combined 80 percent of the vote. This year they won a little over 20 percent—a sign of widespread discontent among Austrian voters.

Norbert Hofer, who won 35.3 percent of the presidential vote, is the candidate for the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), a right-wing fringe party usually described as “far right.” Hofer now faces off against the Green Party’s Alexander Van der Bellen, who won 21.3 percent.

The country has now “entered a new phase in its history,” Andreas Koller wrote in the Salzburger Nachrichten. “The consequences of Sunday’s

election are nowhere close to becoming clear.”

Chancellor Werner Faymann resigned on May 9, saying Austria needs a chancellor whose party stands behind him.

Politico described Austria’s troubled history with the far right, saying this election result “will reawaken memories abroad of the country’s long flirtation with right-wing politics” (April 25). In the 1980s, the Austrians elected former United Nations Secretary General Kurt Wald-heim as president, even as he failed to address questions about his activities as a Wehrmacht officer in World War II. The U.S. placed Waldheim on a watch list, barring him from entering America. The 1990s witnessed the meteoric rise of right-wing populist Jorg Haider. “In 2000, the Freedom Party joined a coalition with the People’s Party, breaking a taboo against populist parties in the European Union and earning Austria international censure” (ibid).

Austria’s recent election result exposes the instability in Europe caused by the migrant crisis, fear of Islamic terrorism,

Islamic State’s next target: Germany

O n March 31, the Islamic State uploaded images on the Internet

bearing a call to German Muslims to execute Brus-sels-style attacks on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s offices and the Cologne-Bonn airport.

“It is clear that Germany is the focus of international terrorism and that attacks could happen,” said a spokeswoman of Germany’s BKA federal police. Former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg condemned Europe’s leadership for not acting decisively enough against radical Islam. The more Europe (and especially Germany) is a focus of Islamic terrorism, the closer it gets to fighting back—and fulfilling the prophecy in Daniel 11:40. n

Germany to build military base in Turkey

G ermany plans to build a $75 million military base in Turkey, Spiegel newsmagazine reported April 25, citing a leaked report. Berlin has already approved the budget, and it plans

to complete the majority of the base by next summer. The base will include an air control area ($12 million), accommodations for German soldiers ($17 million), and a combat headquarters ($39 million). The base indicates that Berlin has a long-term interest in Turkey. This development comes as Germany is becoming more involved in the Middle East, the Paris attacks in November having served as a springboard for its already existing plans. Germany’s goal is greater than merely destroying the Islamic State. n

and the slow-rolling economic crisis. And it threatens to make those crises worse.

Spurred by the rise of the fringe right, Austria’s center-right leadership is desperate to solve the migrant crisis. Earlier this year, it slowed the stream of migrants into the EU from Greece by persuading Greece’s northern neighbors to seal their borders. Now the EU is threat-ening to shut the Brenner Pass, the only major road through the Alps from Italy into Austria. Austria is building a fence across the pass and looks ready to reintroduce border controls. Closing that border would divide Europe further and place a major strain on Italy’s economy.

Austria’s response to the rise of the fringe right will only make the crisis worse—further fueling the rise of the right.

The last time far-right groups rose this dramatically, things spiraled out of control and they ended up taking over countries across Europe shortly before World War II. Austria’s presi-dency is largely a ceremonial role, though it does have some power. But if the FPO’s support holds up, it could take the chancellery too. n

MIDDLE GROUND Turkish and German defense ministers meet at Incirlik Air Base in January.

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POLITICAL SHIFT Supporters of the Freedom Party of Austria

demonstrate against a refugee home in Vienna on April 18.

Austria moving right

Kremlin cracks down on religious liberty

O ver two thirds of Russians now identify as Russian Orthodox Christians, double the number from 25 years ago. This

marks a remarkable resurgence of Christianity in Russia since its Soviet era, when the government destroyed thousands of churches and persecuted millions of Christians.

Soviet Communist textbooks called religion “the opium of the people” and Christianity “a perverse reflection on the world,” but in the 24 years since the fall of the Soviet Union, Orthodox Christianity has made an astonishing recovery. Yet this development has not brought religious liberty to Russia. Instead, it appears that it is simply a new state apparatus for forcibly uniting Russians ideologically.

Russian citizen Viktor Krasnov is currently on trial and facing up to a year in prison for writing “There is no God” on a Russian social media network. Police raided his apartment and forced him into a month-long examination at a psychiatric ward until he was deemed fit for trial. He was then charged under a Russian law forbidding insults to

the feelings of religious believers.In 2011, Alexey Koptev was arrested after

undercover police established that he belonged to the Jehovah’s Witnesses Christian denomination. In 2009, the city of Taganrog banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses for propagating the exclusivity and supremacy of its religion. This denomination now shares the same legal status as the Islamic State and the National Socialist Society. Mormons, Scientologists and even Pentecostals are coming under increasing government pressure.

In return for public support from Russian Orthodox clergy, President Vladimir Putin attends church services and portrays himself as a defender of “Christian values,” using a de facto state religion to unify his empire, much like the Byzantine emperors and Russian czars did.

Post-Soviet efforts to remake Moscow into a representative government are failing. Russia has embraced an authoritarian leader driven to vault his nation back to great power status. Putin already has much of the necessary ideological apparatus firmly in place.

Russians want the Soviet Union resurrected

T he majority of Russians say they miss the Soviet Union. An April

19 Interfax report discussed the findings from a survey by the Levada Center: “More than half of Russians believe that the Soviet Union’s collapse could have been avoided (51 percent) and regret that it happened (56 percent) .… The majority of respondents (58 percent) said they would welcome the revival of the Soviet Union and the socialist system, while 44 percent said that currently it is unrealistic. At the same time, one in three (31 percent) said they would not want to rebuild the old Soviet socialist system” (Trumpet translation). The study surveyed a representative nationwide sample of about 1,600 adults across 48 regions.

The government of President Vladimir Putin has said that he views the collapse of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century.” He has been working to reverse this tragedy in part

by reviving many relics of the Soviet era, including the Inter-vision Song Contest, a military preparation fitness program, the “Hero of Socialist Labor” award, and by creating a cult of personality and consolidating his grip on domestic media that Comrade Joseph Stalin himself would be proud of. n

Putin’s private army

R ussian President Vladimir Putin is resurrecting what may

become a modern Praetorian Guard—the infamous elite corps solidified by the Roman emperor that acted as bodyguard, riot police and secret service.

During an April 5 televised appearance, Putin announced that he is overhauling Russian law-enforcement operations to create a domestic army that will answer to him personally. This force, called the National Guard, will be led by former KGB agent Victor Zolotov, a judo-sparring partner of Putin’s.

By poaching 170,000 riot police and counterinsurgency units from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and adding special police forces and mili-tary personnel, this will become a paramilitary force of up to 400,000 servicemen (roughly quadruple the size of the British military; about one seventh the size of the Russian military).

Putin said the new force will fight terrorism, organized crime and illicit drug trafficking. It will also cooperate with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and perform functions currently carried out by Russian riot police units. The new National Guard is also being equipped with its own intelligence service and investigative powers that would report directly to Putin,

via Zolotov. This force can make arrests without introducing themselves and fire without warning “in special cases.”

The creation of this force indicates that Putin may be skeptical of his cabinet officials’ loyalty. At a time when economic stagnation is making civil unrest more likely, there are legitimate concerns that Putin’s new National Guard will be even more authoritarian than the Internal Troops this force is replacing. n

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ARMED AND DANGEROUS Russian President Vladimir Putin

meets with his military leaders on April 5 to form the National Guard.

PAST GLORY A Russian Communist Party supporter marks the 63rd anniversary of Stalin’s death.

JULY 2016 29

Weaponizing children in Africa

T he number of children used for “suicide” bomb-ings in some African

nations has increased 10-fold during the last year, according to a new UNICEF report. The children are as young as 8, and more than 75 percent are girls.

The report focused on Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad, showing that the number

of children involved in such attacks increased from four in 2014 to 44 in 2015. Cameroon had 21 such bombings; Nigeria had 17; and Chad had two.

In many cases, the children involved likely did not even realize they were carrying explosives, which are often detonated remotely. Neverthe-less, the trend has caused many

people in the affected areas to fear children. UNICEF said the “calculated use of children who may have been coerced into carrying bombs has created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion that has devastating consequences.”

The primary group behind this carnage is the Sunni Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram, whose name translates to “Western education is a sin.” The

group has targeted more than 910 schools so far. Some 1,500 schools have closed as a direct result of its attacks. Children are suffering more than any other group as a result of Boko Haram’s devastating impact. Besides those that the terrorists directly target by kidnapping and weaponizing, an estimated 1 million other children have been left without education as a result of Boko Haram’s terrorism.

Iran’s future: Less talk, more missiles

O n May 9, Iranian Brig. Gen. Ali Abdollahi announced that

his nation test-fired another ballistic missile in late April. He told the semi-official Tasnim News Agency that the missiles were precision-guided with a 26-foot margin of error and a 1,240-mile range.

If authentic, it was Iran’s third ballistic missile test since the nuclear deal was implemented in January. Iran’s rhetoric indicates more are on the way.

On March 28, Iran announced that it will continue developing and testing ballistic missiles, despite sanctions from the United States. President Hassan Rouhani said Iran’s missile program was a “strategic policy.” A commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said, “Even if they build a wall around Iran, our missile program will not stop.”

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on March 30 that Iran’s future was in missiles, not negotiations. “That they say the future of the world is one of negotiation and not one of missiles, if that is said out of igno-rance, well it is ignorance, but if it’s said knowingly, it is treason,” Khamenei said, seemingly targeting Iranian reformers.

The Obama administration condemned the tests but stopped short of labeling them violations of the nuclear agree-ment. After Iran’s test in March, administration representatives simply called Iran’s actions “inconsistent with” the deal.

This move increased the friction between Congress and the White House. According to an April 12 Washington Free Beacon report, Congress censured the Obama adminis-tration and launched an inquiry into what it called its efforts to deceive lawmakers about the terms of the nuclear deal.

“[Iranian] Foreign Minister [Javad] Zarif asserted that Iran’s missile program was ‘not open to negotiation,’” Rep. Mike Pompeo noted. “While the Iranians are obstinate, the Obama administration debates semantics for weeks—ignoring the frightening reality that Iran tested ballistic missiles.” n

President Obama confirms: Special relationship is dead

U nited States President Barack Obama caused an uproar in the United

Kingdom on April 22, when he said that if Britain quit the European Union, the nation “is going to be in the back of the queue” when it comes to making a trade deal with the U.S.

The response touched a nerve. Many pointed out the hypocrisy of an American leader encouraging Britain to remain in a union that the United States would not tolerate—allowing a foreign bureaucracy to create most of its laws, giving foreign judges jurisdiction in its territory, and submitting to foreign police forces arresting, deporting and denying constitu-tional rights to its citizens.

But his declaration that Britain must wait at the back of the line is what rankled the most. It confirmed to many that the long-standing U.S.-UK

special relationship is dead.The Spectator said President

Obama appears to consider Britain “a country that’s too small to be worth bothering with on its own. A country that might matter, as part of a massive bloc of the EU, but is too tiny for his ever-so-busy offi-cials in the State Department to bother with” (April 22).

Xenia Wickett, head of the U.S. and the Americas Program at Chatham House, wrote that the UK is “increasingly … just one of America’s many strategic relationships. … What is clear is that increasingly the UK is not ‘first among equals’ in Europe but ‘one among many’ for the United States” (April 20). The breaking of this brotherhood will weaken both nations and, biblical prophecy shows, make them more vulnerable to attack by hostile foreign powers. n

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LIFT OFF A Qadr ballistic missile

is test-fired in northern Iran

on March 9.


JULY 2016 31

SOCIETYWATCH

Canada to legalize marijuana

A round 25,000 people attended Vancouver’s annual marijuana

rally on April 20 to celebrate “National Weed Day.” That same day, Canadian Health Minister Jane Philpott announced new legislation intended to “keep marijuana out of the hands of children and profits out of the hands of criminals.” That legis-lation legalizes recreational marijuana.

Many Canadians will be happy: An April 20 Angus Reid Institute poll revealed that 68 percent of Canadians support the legalization of marijuana. Yet the poll also found that 51 percent of those surveyed worried the legalization would make it “easier for children to get and use marijuana,” contrary to Philpott’s position that it will be “the best way to protect our youth while

enhancing public safety.”

One argument for legalizing marijuana is that people will obtain it illegally anyway, so legalization keeps many people from entering the criminal justice system. However, legalizing marijuana will also inevitably make it more prevalent and accessible. According to Canada’s Youth Smoking Survey 2012–2013, nearly three in four youths who smoke cigarettes report that they obtain them from family and friends who purchase cigarettes legally.

It’s ironic that Canada’s health minister is discussing legalization of a drug proved to be very detrimental to health. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says that solid

scientific evidence proves that teenagers who use marijuana have reduced thinking, memory and learning functions, and experience depression and anxiety. A Northwestern Medicine study found that even teens who stopped using the drug for two years showed brain abnormalities that appeared “similar to brains of schizophrenics.” Usage can cause breathing problems, bronchitis and increased risk of heart attack. Heavy marijuana users also report more rela-tionship problems and lower life satisfaction. n

Sugar is like a drug

I n the United States, the average person consumes more than 126 grams of

sugar per day, according to data from market research

firm Euromonitor published in February. That’s about five times the sugar intake recom-mended for adults by the World Health Organization.

LEGAL HIGH A vendor sells pot

to passersby in Vancouver.

Schools must have gender-neutral bathrooms

T he Obama adminis-tration took executive action May 13, ordering

all public schools in America that receive federal funds to provide gender-neutral bathrooms to students. It ignited a ferocious argument over states’ rights and whether the rights of trans-genders supersede the rights of students to use restrooms and locker rooms with only those of the same biological sex.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbot vowed that if pushed, Texas will reject federal funding. “Texas is fighting this,” declared the governor. “Obama can’t rewrite the Civil Rights Act. He’s not a king.”

In April, the White House began using gender-neutral restrooms. And in an April speech in Selma, Alabama, marking a civil rights struggle, President Obama saluted the struggles of homosexual Amer-icans, declaring: “We’re the gay Americans whose blood ran in the streets of San Francisco and New York, just as blood ran down this bridge.”

President Obama’s closest adviser, Valerie Jarrett, wrote in Advocate magazine, “The president is determined to lead by example. He has hired more openly LGBT Americans to serve in his administration than any other in history” (April 8).

The New York Times reported in May that President Obama is considering creating a national monument in tribute to the homosexual-rights movement. n

The U.S. diet has changed dramatically in the past two centuries. In 1822, the average American ate about 6 pounds of sugar per year. The average American now eats over 100 pounds.

A study carried out by Austra-lia’s Queensland University of Technology confirmed that excessive sugar consumption increases dopamine levels in a similar way to drugs such as cocaine.

Withdrawal symptoms from sugar addiction are similar to going “cold turkey” from drugs. These findings contradict previous research, such as a 2014 Edinburgh University study, which found that sugar addiction was a psychological addiction but not a biochemical dependency. But psychological and/or biochemical addiction to sugar is having real effects. Sugar-related ailments among Americans are soaring. n

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overly complex. A single unnecessary system—one designed to make it easier to order spare parts—leaves the entire program so vulnerable to hacking that a cyberattack could ground the whole fleet. Meanwhile, experts say Congress is unlikely to kill the pro-gram because politicians are worried about the jobs that would be lost in key districts.

T h e r e m ay b e le g it-imate reasons for not canceling the F-35 program. But that decision should revolve around military consequences, not jobs.

These tactics also seem to prevail for America’s newest stealth bomber, the B-21. “By publicly announcing some of the program’s subcontractors, officials have tied the program to specific con-gressional districts, making it difficult

for members of Congress with plants in their districts to oppose or criticize the program for legitimate military and budget reasons without also seeming to act against their districts’ interests,” reported the Project for Government Oversight in March.

T h e w a s t a g e a n d incompetence in Ameri-ca’s defense contracts rep-resent more than merely a financial problem. Yes, America may have spent

billions on useless roads or crumbling hospitals—but the same forces behind those purchases could have pushed the U.S. into spending $1.5 trillion, and betting its future, on a flawed plane.

A Deadly WeaknessWhen decisions about the military are being made with jobs, Congressional seats and career advancements as the

u BANG FOR BUCK FROM PAGE 17

T he United States Marine Corps aviation wing is suffering from the bur-den of 15 years’ worth of fighting and budget cuts. Fox News reported on April 17 that the vast majority of U.S. strike fighter aircraft are not airworthy. Yet it

is unclear where the money to maintain and replace them will come from. Budget cuts and sequestration have reduced anticipated budgets—from $691 billion in 2010 to $560 billion in 2015, an inflation-adjusted 21 percent decrease in five years.

Several aging major equipment platforms need replacing. The MV-22B Osprey was to be the solution for the rotary-wing aircraft used by the corps. Yet several accidents have degraded confidence in this “upgrade.” The F-18 Hornets were to be replaced with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter—but known flaws, significant budget overruns, and postponements in deployment testing have delayed F-35 adoption.

Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornets are supposed to have a shelf life of 6,000 hours, but they are being refurbished to extend that life to 8,000 hours, possibly even 10,000 hours. Pilots are being asked to remain operationally ready with aircraft that are well beyond their engineered limits. Not only has time spent refining their skills in the air been reduced, but pilots are now limited by aging aircraft that could pose safety risks even outside of combat roles.

U.S. Marine Corps Not Combat Ready

top priority, America’s security is dra-matically undermined.

Defense wastage exposes a rot at the heart of the military. Who knows the exact reason each military official signed off on billions of useless projects in Afghanistan or bought equipment that is not needed. But the same factors that lead to these decisions—lack of thought, lack of interest, bureaucratic red tape, the inability of different departments to talk to each other—are undoubtedly behind other bad decisions. Misspending is a quantifiable symptom that points to a much deeper sickness.

American military decision-makers around the world, from Afghanistan to Congress, have taken their eye off the ball. For some, their goal is personal gain. For others, it’s not rocking the boat. For others, it’s reelection. Too few have defending America from potential enemies as their top priority. This is the biggest reason why the shocking military waste matters.

A m e r i c a u s e d t o p r o d u c e c u t -ting-edge military technology at good prices. God blessed America, but no longer. In fact, the curse described in Leviticus 26:20 —directed to the ungodly and disobedient modern-day descendants of ancient Israel, of whom America is chief—well applies: “And your strength shall be spent in vain.”

We see this in many ways—the fruit-less military missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, for example. This massive waste is both a natural result of failed leadership and also a result of this curse. The preceding verse says God

“will break the pride of your power.” These verses describe a nation with ample “strength” and “power,” but it is incapable of using it effectively.

W hen A merica was blessed, God said He made it so that “ye shall chase you r enem ies, a nd t hey sh a l l f a l l before you by the sword” (verse 7). One way He did that was by blessing the nation with skilled innovators and manufacturers, allowing the nation to have its technological edge. America still has an edge here. But too few in the military take the potential for a major war seriously. The result is a bloated system that hemorrhages money and leaves this apparently invincible nation dangerously insecure. n

For more information on the F-35’s vulnerability

to hacking, visit theTrumpet.com/go/13516.

cpl. antonio rubio/u.s. marine corps

NUMEROUS AIRMILES A Marine mechanic performs preflight

checks on an F/A-18.

JULY 2016 33

stephen flurry

PRINCIPLES OF LIVING

W hen was the last time you really improved at something? That’s what a 63-year-old retired editor asked in a recent New York Times feature. Gerald Mar-

zorati took up tennis late in life, and he learned a valuable lesson about aging well: Find something difficult to do, immerse your-self in it, then work to get better! Marzorati says you achieve

better aging through practice.G od created ou r bod ies to slow

down with age and eventually wear out (Hebrews 9:27). But that does not mean He meant for us to get sick, feeble or senile in old age. As Marzorati learned by taking up tennis at age 55, we can definitely learn new things and grow ment a l ly a nd physica l ly when we embrace challenges late in life.

“There are quantifiable benefits often associated with taking up something like tennis and getting better at it,” Marzorati wrote. “Your brain, it’s thought, will be recast and strengthened” (April 29). He cited a study where 200 old people improved their memories after learning a complicated new skill.

Improving with age also contains an important spiritual lesson. True Christians must never stop growing. Anyone who stops growing isn’t really Christian because if you are attached to Christ, you will grow! (John 15:1-5).

Jesus said that to be saved, you must endure to the end (Mat-thew 24:13). That means you overcoming and growing through-out life, “being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). We must grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).

Educator Herbert W. Armstrong set an excellent example of striving for growth and development. In 1981, at age 89, he talked about how much he had learned over the past year. In 1985, he completed his largest and most important book! “With the writing of the new book Mystery of the Ages,” he wrote,

“God has helped me this year to do the best work of my 93 years of life!” (member and co-worker letter, Nov. 25, 1985). Shortly before he died, Mr. Armstrong said he had learned more in his last 10 years than in all the previous decades put together.

How did he do it? He credited two sources: God’s power, and sheer determination and self-drive. “Of course God expects us to do our own part,” he wrote. “He does for us what we can’t do for ourselves! But when you put both together—your own best and add what God can do that’s beyond what you can do—you’ve got a combination that pays off!” (Plain Truth, July 1975).

Bring it on.

The Secret to Successful Aging

Mr. Armstrong drove himself forward! He took on difficult new challenges, yet totally depended on God’s awesome power. He claimed God’s promise in Isaiah 40:28-31: “[T]he everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. … He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary … But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

In 1982 Mr. Armstrong wrote about a growing tragedy in Western society: people growing old before their time. He recalled driving by a retirement home and seeing its residents sitting on the verandas, just passing the time, with despondent looks on their faces. “Plainly, they had nothing to look forward to,” he wrote. “There was just a tired, uninterested, hopeless stare on their faces. They were just eking out an existence until finally death would deliver them from endless monotony. I had to wonder: Why should people believe in a myth that cheats millions out of one of the happiest times of life? Why should

the millions believe a myth that makes them old before their time and robs them of usefulness, vigor, sparkling interest in life and real accomplishment?” (Worldwide News, Nov. 15, 1982).

Yes, even in old age, we can “produce fruit” and “remain vital and green” (Psalm 92:14; New Living Translation). Consider the biblical example of Caleb. He was 40 years old when Moses sent him to spy out the land of Canaan. Forty-five years later, he was still embracing challenges, driving himself forward, and trusting God. He said, “As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in” (Joshua 14:11).

God kept Caleb strong and healthy. At age 85, Caleb was as ready for battle as when he was 40! Facing a group of giants, he said, “if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said” (verse 12). What an atti-tude! Caleb didn’t retire, hand everything off to the younger generation and sit around. This senior citizen was enlisting for mountain warfare—hand-to-hand combat against giants! He had the same mind-set Mr. Armstrong had: As long as I’m alive, I’m young enough to face new challenges!

Like many other outstanding, dynamic elderly leaders for God, these men had two characteristics that you can have: self-drive, and strength that is renewed by your Creator!

If we are following God with our whole hearts, we’ll never retire from spiritual labor. We’ll seek out new challenges, and always work to improve and grow! n

“ There are quantifiable benefits often associated with taking up something like tennis and getting better at it. Your brain, it’s thought, will be recast and strengthened.”

GERALD MARZORATI

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DISCUSSION BOARD

Understand your world

Watch Germany!These are troubled times (“Watch Germany!”, theTrumpet.com/go/13715). As much as I would like to consider the refugees, I cannot forget about the nation that was there first and has built a certain reputation over centuries. I am all of respect for those who open the door to the needy and for the needy to not take advantage only, but to cooperate and be thankful without imposing their point of view.Christina Atomoaie

Don’t know that I agree with everything in this article, but then again, I never arbitrarily agree with anything. This article definitely has a factual foreboding to it!Scott Stevens

Most of the world is asleep to how serious these changes are.Larry S. Kenney FORT-COULONGE, QUEBEC

Light the sparkThis article has relit the spark in me of my love for reading books like I had when I was younger (“Save Yourself From Screen Addiction,” theTrumpet.com/go/13718). Unfortunately this technological age does rub off on you. My greatest pastime used to be looking through our collection of Encyclopedia Britannica. Thank you again!Lisa Richardson

Black Lives MatterThe Super Bowl performance by Ms. Knowles was met with some controversy.

In a voting system, the people are a reflection of the government and leaders they choose (“Rise of the Superpresident,” theTrumpet.com/go/13711). I enjoyed the article, but it left a heavy sadness. Knowing that the amount of suffering that is coming—although righteously measured—is going to be beyond the greatest horror we can envisage. True education, real government and God’s law are needed now more than ever. Thanks for the article and a glimpse of the American system of government.Tony Haddad NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA

(“The Real Agenda Behind Black Lives Matter,” theTrumpet.com/go/13722). People who objected to the symbols of race war were themselves labeled racist. But what’s written by Mr. Flurry in this article is so easy to prove. The office of U.S. president is being used to radicalize America, utilizing media and pop culture to pull the masses toward class war and race war.Kofi Appiah CALIFORNIA

Beginning of the endExcellent interview! (“A Conversation With a British Euroskeptic,” theTrumpet.com/go/13726). It’s astounding to be watching all this unfold in front of us, and as Atkinson said, regardless of the outcome of the vote, things will never be the same again. It’s the beginning of the end of the UK in the EU.Robb Schmidt

Paid to liveSounds similar to the set-up in the United Arab Emirates for native Emiratis—they essentially get paid for living (“Free Money for Everyone!”, theTrumpet.com/go/13730). The result is an unearthly attitude of entitlement, which the expats who comprise the actual workforce are obliged to tolerate. You can physically see the result of years and years of pampering, leading to incompetence. Generally speaking, you can tell the work of an Emirati from the work of an expat. What happens to people’s quality of work when they have no incentive? Free money is not the answer to anything.Joseph Hostetler OHIO

Isn’t this what the Romans did with their peace and prosperity? Nothing to do today—let’s go down to the Roman Colosseum and see the gladiator fights and the lions eat some Christians. How did all that freedom work out?Joe WEBSITE RESPONSE

In a fast-moving world, you can get the news, but can you explain why events unfold as they do? We can. World events are important, and you need to understand where they are leading.Subscribe to the Philadelphia Trumpet magazine by visiting theTrumpet.com/go/Trumpet.

istock.com/ewg3d

JULY 2016 35

COMMENTARY

I n November, it appears American voters will choose between two of the most loathed presidential candidates in the nation’s history. The

factor that determines the next president will likely be which one voters hate less.

Cynicism, pessimism, even fatalism hang like a pall over much of the electorate. Conser-vative website Townhall.com ran this remarkable headline: “I Am Going to Vote for Trump Though It Makes Me Want to Projectile Vomit.” In the Wall Street Journal, former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal explained his plan to vote for Mr. Trump as “the sec-ond-worst thing we could do this November.”

In both parties, many have pledged to not vote for their candidate. Columnist Bret Stephens wrote, “The best hope for what’s left of a serious conservative movement in America is the election in November of a Democratic president, held in check by a Republican Congress. … If the next presidency is going to be a disaster, why should the gop want to own it?”

“For conservatives, a Democratic victory in November means the loss of another election, with all the policy reversals that entails,” Stephens explained. “That may be dispiriting, but elections will come again. A Trump presidency means losing the Republican Party. Conservatives need to accept that most conservative of wisdoms—sometimes, losing is winning ….”

So even as he recognizes that there is almost nothing left of “a serious conservative movement in America,” Stephens holds out hope: This election is hopeless—but maybe we can turn things around in the next one. Inspired yet?

Every four years, Americans get swept up in political prom-ises of hope and change, reform, shaking things up, taking the country back, making America great again. Then we are disillusioned for another four years. Now, this time around, many people seem disillusioned even before the general election campaign has begun. The slogans are ringing hollow, even for many partisan voters.

Is hope for America just one—or two—elections away?Look at the even broader picture. Every political cycle in

every democracy and republic, masses of voters get swept up in political promises of change. In fact, this promise has

The #NeverTrump and #NeverHillary campaigns actually point to a promising lesson. by joel hilliker

This Election Disaster Is Not America’s ‘Best Hope’

motivated almost every election, putsch, coup and revolution in history, whether it’s the French in 1789, the Bolsheviks in 1917, the Iranian hardliners in 1979, the Nazis in 1933 or the Islamic State in 2016. No leader ever sets out to create a legacy of same-old, status-quo failure. Yet that is exactly what they achieve. Or worse. None of our forms of government—mon-archies, despotisms, tyrannies, oligarchies, democracies or republics—have worked. None of the political economies—feudalism, capitalism, socialism, communism—have worked. None has brought about or sustained peace or prosperity, let alone happiness. Not one has made good on its promise.

Among these innumerable experiments in governance, the republic of the United States stands as the greatest. Yet after less than two and a half centuries, we are staring collapse in the face. We have presidential candidates who surge in the polls by addressing broad discontent and anxiety among the electorate

and, like generations of politicians before them, promise change.

With thousands of years of failure to look on, why then do we cling to our conviction that a solution is almost in sight?

Whoever is elected, what do you really think the next four years will really bring? Perhaps you regard yourself as a cynic or a realist—yet you think that even w ith another bad presidency, America can turn it all around

two elections from now, or maybe three or four ….By now, the political slogans should be ringing more hollow

than ever. But here is a statement that rings true: “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusts in man.” We have placed our trust in man, and as the Prophet Jeremiah wrote, we are suffering for it.

It’s not delusional to think that this nation is cursed. In fact, it’s delusional not to. Can you recognize it? The Bible prophesies that America is facing a cursed future, politically, economically, morally and militarily. This is how it describes America’s coming days: curses befalling a nation that has turned itself completely away from the God who gave it its abundant blessings in the first place. For a thorough scriptural study of these prophecies—and to see the ultimately inspiring reason for which God is bringing them to pass—request a free copy of Herbert W. Armstrong’s book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

This sequence of curses is already beginning to ravage the U.S. at an accelerating tempo. It is not difficult to imagine that, despite Mr. Stephens’s hope, there won’t be a “next election.”

But thankfully, that is not the end of the story. Change is coming. Hope is coming. Yes, even greatness is coming. But not from politicians.

“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). That truly is change you can believe in.

After saying you’re cursed if you trust a man, Jeremiah then said, “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.”

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CLINTON TRUMP


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Georgia, Albany WSWG-DT 9:30, SunAtlanta WPXA 6:00, FriAugusta-Aiken WAGT-DT 9:30, SunBrunswick WPXC 6:00, FriColumbus WLTZ-DT 9:30, SunMacon WMAZ-DT 9:30, SunSavannah WGSA-DT 9:30, SunThomasville WTLF/WTLH-DT 9:30, Sun

Hawaii, Hawaii Na Leo Chan. 54 6:30, Sun; 8:30, Wed

Kaui Ho’ Ike Chan. 52 9:30, TueMaui/Lanaii/Molokai/Niihau/Akaku

Chan. 52 6:30 pm, Sun; 3:30, MonOahu Focus Chan. 49 7:00 am, Sat

Chan. 27 5:00 am, Fri KPXOIdaho, Boise KYUU-LP/KBOI-DT 8:30, Sun

Idaho Falls KIFI-DT 8:30, SunPocatello KIFI-DT 8:30, SunTwin Falls KMVT-DT 8:30, Sun

Illinois, Bloomington WHOI-DT 8:30, SunChicago WCUU 7:00, Mon-Fri; WCIU 9:30,

Sun; WCPX 5:00, FriPeoria WHOI-DT 8:30, SunRockford WREX-DT 8:30, SunQuincy WGEM-DT 8:30, Sun

Indiana, Fort Wayne WPTA-DT 21.2 9:30, SunIndianapolis WIPX 6:00, FriTerre Haute WBI 9:30, Sun

Iowa, Cedar Rapids KPXR 5:00, FriDes Moines KFPX 5:00, FriKeokuk WGEM-DT 8:30, SunMason City KTTC-DT 8:30, SunOttumwa KWOT 8:30, SunSioux City KTIV-DT 8:30, Sun

Kansas, Topeka KTKA-DT 8:30, SunPittsburg KSXF 8:30, Sun

Kentucky, Bowling Green WBKO-DT 8:30, SunLexington WUPX 6:00, Fri

Louisiana, Alexandria KBCA-DT 8:30, SunMonroe KNOE-DT 8:30, SunLafayette KADN 7:30, Sun; KATC-DT

8:30, SunLake Charles KVHP-DT 8:30, Sun

Philadelphia Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry appears each week on The Key of David explaining the meaning behind world events and teaching the inspiring truths of the Bible. The program is also available at keyofdavid.com.

u CHINA FROM PAGE 4A Way of EscapeIn the lead-up to World War ii, it was easy for America to dismiss Germany’s domination over Europe and Japan’s domination over Asia as faraway problems that didn’t concern them. Yet when war broke out, the whole world was plunged into the worst period of violence it had ever experienced up to that time.

Yet according to biblical prophecy, World War ii was only a dress rehearsal for the Great Tribulation!

This really is heavy prophecy, and it is not an easy message to deliver. Mankind refuses to listen to God, choosing instead to do things its own way. The end result is famine, pestilence and war. It is the responsibility of God’s watchman, with the help of a group of supporters, to deliver this message!

Ezekiel writes that one third of the people in end-time Israel will die in the siege and another third in the military invasion. What will happen to the last third? They will be taken as slaves to a foreign land! The time just ahead of us truly will be one of terrors too horrific to even imagine!

Yet, Ezekiel also writes about a small group of people who will be protected.

“Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts” (Ezekiel 5:3). Here is a little group of people that is bound “in thy skirts,” where God protects them in a place of safety from the siege, the attack and the scattering mentioned in verse 2. This is the Church of God that delivered this prophecy and did His work. Only God can protect His people from all that horror! And you can stake your life on the fact that He will do it!

God says three times in Ezekiel 2:6, Be not afraid! Don’t be afraid! Be not afraid! The people of America, Britain and Judah should be very afraid if they refuse to repent. But God tells those who are doing His work that they must not give in to fear. There are reasons why people fear to deliver that message, but God commands us to do it! He promises to give us all the power we need—and to reward us for obeying Him no matter what happens!

Ezekiel had a difficult job, but he wasn’t depressed. He had a work to do and was happy God gave him—a mere slave—that job.

All this prophesied destruction is what it will take for God to reach this world! After this, people will be ashamed—and they will get to know God! Ezekiel repeatedly talked about that inspiring conclusion (e.g. Ezekiel 6:7; 7:4; 11:10; 12:20; 13:9; 23:48-49, etc.). Yes, there is a lot of bad news when you consider what it takes to get people to the point of knowing God. But ultimately, the outcome is spectacularly good news! n

China’s imperial dreams laid bareYou can know China’s next move. Request Russia and China in Prophecy.

JULY 2016 37

CONTACT US Please notify us of any change in your address; include your old mailing label and the new address. The publishers assume no responsibility for return of unsolicited artwork, photographs or manuscripts. The editor reserves the right to use any letters, in whole or in part, as he deems in the public interest, and to edit any letter for clarity or space. WEBSITE www.theTrumpet.com E-MAIL [email protected]; subscription or literature requests [email protected] PHONE United Kingdom: 0-800-756-6724; Australia: 1-800-22-333-0; New Zealand: 0-800-500-512 MAIL Contributions, letters or requests may be sent to our office nearest you: United States P.O. Box 3700, Edmond, OK 73083 Canada P.O. Box 400, Campbellville, on l0p 1B0. Caribbean P.O. Box 2237, Chaguanas, Trinidad, W.I. Britain, Europe, Middle East P.O. Box 16945, Henley-in-Arden, B95 8Bh, United Kingdom Africa Postnet Box 219, Private bag X10010, Edenvale, 1610, South Africa Australia, Pacific Isles, India, Sri Lanka P.O. Box 293, Archerfield, qld 4108, Australia New Zealand P.O. Box 6088, Glenview, Hamilton, 3246 Philippines P.O. Box 52143, Angeles City Post Office, 2009 Pampanga Latin America Attn: Spanish Department, P.O. Box 3700, Edmond, OK 73083, U.S.

THE PHILADELPHIA TRUMPET (issn 10706348) is published monthly (except bimonthly May-June and November-December issues) by the Philadelphia Church of God, 14400 S. Bryant Road, Edmond, OK 73034. Period-icals postage paid at Edmond, ok, and ad-ditional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: the philadelphia trumpet, P.O. Box 3700, Edmond, ok 73083.U.S. HOW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION HAS BEEN PAID: The Trumpet has no sub-scription price—it is free. This is made possible by the tithes and offerings of the membership of the Philadelphia Church of God and others. Contributions are wel-comed, how ever, and are tax-deductible in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. Those who wish to voluntarily support this worldwide work of God are gladly welcomed as co-workers. © 2016 Philadelphia Church of God. All rights reserved. printed in the u.s.a. Unless other-wise noted, scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

STAFF Publisher and Editor in Chief Gerald FlurryExecutive Editor Stephen FlurryManaging Editor Joel HillikerContributing Editors Brad Macdonald, Dennis Leap, Robert Morley, Jeremiah JacquesAssociate Editor Philip NiceDesigner Steve HercusContributors Richard Palmer, David Vejil, Callum WoodProduction Assistants Deepika Azariah, Aubrey MercadoResearchers Anthony Chibarirwe, Kayla TaylorDesign Assistant Reese ZoellnerArtists Gary Dorning, Melissa Barreiro, Brooke DavisPrepress Wik HeermaInternational Editions Brad MacdonaldFrench, Italian Deryle HopeGerman Hans SchmidlSpanish Carlos Heyer

Oklahoma, Ada KTEN-DT 8:30, SunLawton KAUZ-DT 8:30, SunOklahoma City KOPX 5:00, FriTulsa KTPX 5:00, Fri

Oregon, Bend KTVZ-DT 9:30, SunEugene KEVU-TV 10:00, Sun; KLSR 8:30,

Sun; KMTR-DT 9:30, SunMedford-Klamath Falls

KTVL-DT 9:30, SunPortland KPXG 6:00, Fri

Pennsylvania, Erie WSEE-DT/WICU-DT 9:30, Sun

Philadelphia WPPX 6:00, FriWilkes Barre WQPX 6:00, Fri

Rhode Island, Providence WPXQ 6:00, Fri

South Carolina, Charleston WCBD-DT 9:30, Sun

Florence WWMB-DT 9:30, SunMyrtle Beach WWMB-DT 9:30, Sun

South Dakota, Rapid City KWBH/KNBN-DT 8:30, Sun

Sioux Falls (Mitchell) KSFY-DT 8:30, SunTennessee, Chattanooga WFLI 10:30, Sun

Jackson WBJK 8:30, SunKnoxville WPXK 6:00, FriMemphis WPXX 5:00, FriNashville WNPX 5:00, Fri

Texas, Abilene KTWS-DT 8:30, SunAmarillo KVII-DT/KVIH-DT 8:30, SunBeaumont KFDM-DT 8:30, SunBrownsville KCWT/KNVO-DT 8:30, SunCorpus Christi KRIS-DT 8:30, SunDallas KDAF 7:00, Sun; TVCLT-Bilingual,

9:30 SunHarlingen KCWT/KNVO-DT 8:30, SunHouston KPXB 5:00, FriLaredo KTXW 8:30, SunLongview KYTX-DT 8:30, SunLubbock KLCW-DT 8:30, SunMidland KWES-DT 8:30, SunOdessa KWES-DT 8:30, SunPort Arthur KFDM 8:30, SunSan Angelo KWSA 8:30, SunSan Antonio KPXL 5:00, FriSherman KTEN-DT 8:30, SunTyler KYTX-DT 8:30, SunVictoria KWVB 8:30, SunWeslaco KCWT/KNVO-DT 8:30, SunWichita Falls KAUZ-DT 8:30, Sun

Utah, Salt Lake City KUPX 5:00, FriVermont, Burlington WVNY 10:30, Sun;

WPTZ-DT 9:30Virginia, Charlottesville WVIR-DT 9:30, Sun

Harrisonburg WVIR-DT 9:30, SunNorfolk WPXV 6:00, FriRoanoke WPXR 6:00, Fri

Washington D.C. WPXW 6:00, FriWashington, Pasco KIMA-DT/KEPR-DT

9:30, SunRichland KIMA-DT/KEPR-DT 9:30, SunSeattle-Tacoma KWPX 6:00, FriSeattle KCPQ 7:00, SunSpokane KGPX 6:00, Fri; KAYU 7:30, SunYakima KIMA-DT/KEPR-DT 9:30, Sun

West Virginia, Beckley WVVA-DT 9:30, SunBluefield WVVA-DT 9:30, SunCharleston WLPX 6:00, FriClarksburg WVFX-DT 9:30, SunOak Hill WVVA-DT 9:30, SunParkersburg WCWP 9:30, SunWeston WVFX-DT 9:30, Sun

Wheeling WBWO 9:30, SunWisconsin, Eau Claire WXOW-DT 8:30, Sun

La Crosse WXOW-DT 8:30, SunMilwaukee WPXE 5:00, FriRhinelander WAOW/WYOW 8:30, SunSuperior KDLH-DT 8:30, SunWausau WAOW-DT/WYOW-DT 8:30, Sun

Wyoming, Casper KCWY-DT 8:30, SunCheyenne KGWN-DT/KCHW 8:30, SunRiverton KCWY-DT 8:30, Sun

CANADANationwide satellite

Galaxy 3 Trans. 17, 21 11:30 ET, Tue/ThuNationwide cable

WGN 8:00 ET, Sun Discovery 6:30 ET/PT, Sun Vision TV 4:30 pm ET, Sun CHCH 11:30 ET, Sun

Alberta, Red Deer KAYU 8:30, SunCalgary KAYU 8:30, SunEdmonton KAYU 8:30, SunMedicine Hat KAYU 8:30, SunLethbridge KAYU 8:30, Sun

British Columbia, Vancouver CHEK 9:00, Sun; CHNU 5:30 pm, Sun; KCPQ 7:00, Sun

Victoria CHNU 5:30 pm, SunManitoba, Winnipeg WUHF 8:30, Sun;

CIIT Joy TV 11:00, SunNova Scotia, Halifax WUHF 8:30, Sun

Sydney WUHF 8:30, SunOntario, Ottawa CJOH 5:30, Sun

Toronto WADL 10:00 Sun; WUTV 10:00, Sun; CHNU 8:30 pm, Sun

P.E.I., Charlottetown WUHF 8:30, SunQuebec, Montreal WVNY 10:30, SunSaskatchewan, Saskatoon CFQC 5:30, Sun;

WUHF 8:30, Sun

CARIBBEANRegional satellite

Galaxy 3 Trans. 17 11:30 ET, Tue/Thu Galaxy 3 Trans. 21 11:30 ET, Tue/Thu

Aruba WGN 8:00, SunBahamas Discovery Chan. 26, 6:30, Sun

FOX W Chan. 216, 10:30, SunBelize WGN 7:00, SunCuba WGN 8:00, SunDominican Republic WGN 8:00, SunHaiti WGN 7:00, SunJamaica WGN 9:00, SunPuerto Rico WGN 8:00, SunTrinidad and Tobago WGN 8:00, Sun

LATIN AMERICARegional satellite

Galaxy 3 Trans. 17 11:30 ET, Tue/Thu Galaxy 3 Trans. 21 11:30 ET, Tue/Thu

El Salvador WGN 6:00, SunGuatemala WGN 6:00, SunHonduras WGN 6:00, SunMexico TVCLT-Bilingual, 7:30 Sun;

WGN 7:00, SunPanama WGN 7:00, Sun

AUSTRALASIAAustralia

Adelaide TV44 11:30, Sun; 5:00, WedPerth WTV 11:30, Sun/Sat

New Zealand TVNZ, 5:30, SunPhilippines TV4 9:30 PHT, Sun

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Maryland, Salisbury WMDT-DT 9:30, SunMassachusetts, Holyoke

WWLP-DT 9:30, SunSpringfield WWLP-DT 9:30, Sun

Michigan, Alpena WBAE 9:30, SunCadillac WBVC 9:30, SunDetroit WPXD 6:00, Fri; WADL 10:00, SunGrand Rapids WZPX 5:00, FriLansing WLAJ-DT 9:30, SunMarquette WBKP-DT/WBUP-DT 9:30, SunTraverse City WBVC 9:30, Sun

Minnesota, Duluth KDLH-DT 8:30, SunMankato KWYE 8:30, SunMinneapolis KPXM 5:00, FriRochester-Austin KTTC-DC 8:30, SunSioux Fall (Mitchell) KWSD/KSWD-DT

8:30, SunMississippi, Biloxi WXXV-DT 8:30, Sun

Columbus WCBI-DT 8:30, SunGreenville WBWD 8:30, SunGreenwood WBWD 8:30, SunGulfport WXXV-DT 8:30, SunHattiesburg WHPM-DT 8:30, SunLaurel WHPM-DT 8:30, SunMeridian WTOK-DT 8:30, SunTupelo WCBI-DT 8:30, Sun

Missouri, Columbia KOMU-DT 8:30, SunHannibal WGEM-DT 8:30, SunJefferson City KOMU-DT 8:30, SunJoplin KSXF 8:30, SunKansas City KPXE 5:00, FriKirksville KWOT 8:30, SunSt. Joseph KBJO/KNPN-DT 8:30, Sun

Montana, Billings KTVQ-DT 8:30, SunBozeman-Butte KBZK-DT/KXLF-DT

8:30, SunGlendive KWZB 8:30, SunGreat Falls KRTV-DT 8:30, SunHelena KMTF-DT 8:30, SunMissoula KPAX-DT 8:30, Sun

Nebraska, Lincoln-Hastings KWBL 8:30, Sun

Kearney KWBL 8:30, SunNorth Platte KNOP 10:30, Sun; KWPL

8:30, SunScottsbluff KGWN-DT/KCHW 8:30, Sun

Nevada, Reno KRNS-CA/KREN-DT 9:30, SunNew York, Albany WYPX 6:00, Fri

Binghamton WBNG-DT 9:30, SunBuffalo WPXJ 6:00, Fri; WUTV 10:30, SunElmira (Corning) WENY-DT 9:30, SunNew York City TVCLT-Bilingual, 10:30 Sun;

WPXN 6:00, FriPlattsburgh WPTZ-DT 9:30, SunRochester WUHF 8:30, SunSyracuse WSPX 6:00, FriUtica WKTV-DT 9:30, SunWatertown WWTI-DT 9:30, Sun

North Carolina, Durham WRPX 6:00, Fri; 9:00 am, Sun

Fayetteville WFPX 6:00, FriGreensboro WGPX 6:00, FriGreenville WEPX 6:00, Fri; WNCT-DT

9:30, SunLumber Bridge WFPX 6:00, FriNew Bern WNCT-DT 9:30, SunRaleigh WRPX 6:00, Fri; 9:00 am, SunWashington WNCT-DT 9:30, SunWilmington WWAY-DT 9:30, Sun

North Dakota, Bismarck KWMK 8:30, SunDickinson KWMK 8:30, SunFargo WDAY-DT/WDAZ-DT 8:30, SunMinot KWMK 8:30, SunValley City WDAY-DT/WDAZ-DT 8:30, Sun

Ohio, Cleveland WVPX 6:00, FriCincinnati WSTR 8:30, SunLima WBOH 9:30, SunSteubenville WBWO 9:30, SunToledo WMNT 8:00, SunZanesville WBZV 9:30, Sun

CBS United KingdomStationCBS Action CBS Drama CBS Reality

Day Saturday Sunday Sunday

Time 8:30 am 7:30 am 8:00 am

Ch. 148 Ch. 149 Ch. 146

Ch. 192 Ch. 197 Ch. 148

Ch. 64 Ch. 74 Ch. 66

Ch. 137 Ch. 134 Ch. 135

melissa barreiro/trumpet

We dream of walking on Mars. God has something far more cosmic in mind.

To learn what it is, request our free bookThe Incredible Human Potential,by Herbert W. Armstrong.

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